Evaluation in the Polycrisis Epoch

Michael Quinn Patton argues that good public policy evaluation is crucial for addressing the global polycrisis, but requires an informed citizenry. It is thus presently “engaged in a battle against misinformation, politicized knowledge, irrational decision-making, and authoritarian governments. Framing his analysis with Ancient Greek philosophy, Patton proposes that evaluation is really about critical thinking and persuasion, and is crucial to a healthy democracy–just as democratic practices are essential to good policy evaluation. After discussing emancipatory education, the perils of new information technologies, and the Anthropocene condition, he concludes that the “evaluation agenda must now move from simply judging effectiveness of projects to evaluating transformation of systems.”