Do evaluations contribute to public policy formation? The case of Swedish wolf hunting

2012 EEEN Forum / Evaluation

Kerstin Åstrand, Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and Finnish Environment Insti­tute

Environmental evaluations are often thought of as a means to induce learning and development in public policy­making. Evaluations of public policies are nevertheless also used for other purposes, such as accountability, negotia­tion and legitimising of certain positions. This presentation examines the role of assessments and evaluations in the formation of the Swedish policy on wolf hunt over time. The presentation is primarily concerned with how the results from assessments and evaluations have been used at central government level. A simple construct of evalua­tion uses is applied on the case. The presentation particularly explores if policy learning ‑ in terms of conceptual and technical learning ‑ can be detected in the documents examined. The analysis presented is based on a study of both ex-ante and ex-post assessments and evolutions of wolf related issues commissioned by the Swedish government and of how the results from these reports have been used in the government bills on wolf hunting.

1 Comment

  1. 07 June 12, 11:56am

    There has – suprisingly – never been a satifactory evaluation of the current wolf in Sweden in spite of time and resource demanding efforts for a long time. No acceptable quantitative authorized evaluation of the wolfs environmental, economical or social impact has been done. The matter is too controversial but also difficult to evaluate. Thus the relevant evaluations has to be carried out by freelancers like me (see my blogg). Now the government asks the environmental body for a vulnaribility analyses within a month (!) as a foundation for decisions. That would have been prepared earlier if the government was more explicit in its instrucions! In my opinion, as expressed recently in Svensk Jakt 2012 June number, the current wolf qualifies for “gynnsam bevarandestatus” according to the relevant EU-directive, such a political decision would give the government control of the wolf issue.

Respond to Dag Lindgren