Some key points on the evaluation of public policies as related to the case of social policies

Abstract

This paper pretends to go deeply into the reasons that would explainjustify this dissarrengment between theory and practice, and propose some ways of advancement. Today, the policies of social inclusion almost always have strong elements of innovation, of creative adaptation to heterogeneous situations, not standarized a priori, and precisely for this reason, the elements of the proccess are very significative. It should not be strange to us, -lt is advised- that the evaluations that have this elements of proccess in mind, can be notably more powerful and useful than those that are centered exclusively in the subject "results".

In these 14 points for debate, a discusion is presented about the role and results of public action, that it is not situated today only in how to make things, but it demands instruments that let also answer the questions of what public instruments must deal with, and who can best offer these effective and efficient results to these social demands channeled through these representative powers.