ABSTRACT
A necessary requisite for the successful application of the policy-instruments approach to evaluation is that a fruitful and preferably parsimonious scheme of policy instruments be available. Evert Vedung's discourse on public policy instruments is a discourse on political power. His typology is consequently based on the authoritative force or degree of constraint involved in the governance effort. This chapter argues that this typology is fruitful in analyzing and explaining actual practice in the case studies presented in this book. It also examines a few questions to understand the process of policy instrument choice and the role assigned to and actually played by evaluation in this process. The chapter then discusses the three archetypes of policy instruments, penetrates the notion that they may come in packages, and discusses the idea that instruments can be joined to organizational forms. It further presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book.
