African Journal of Political Science

African Journal of Political Science ISSN 3461-2165 Vol. 12 (6), pp. 001-009, June, 2018. © International Scholars Journals

Review

Evidence of democracy? The relationship between evidence-based policy and democratic government

Shaun P. Young

Mowat Centre for Policy Innovation, School of Public Policy and Governance, University of Toronto, 525 University Avenue, Suite 820, Toronto, Ontario, M5G 2L3, Canada. E-mail: [email protected]. Tel: 416-978-7103. Fax: 416-978-7203.

Accepted 22 March, 2018

Abstract

The preceding decade has witnessed the production of a substantial volume of scholarship dedicated to exploring the concept of evidence-based policy – the idea that ‘at the heart’ of properly developed public policy is ‘the best available evidence’. Concomitantly, ‘evidence’ has secured an unparalleled pride of place (at least, rhetorically) among policy-makers, who will often refer to the conclusions of ‘the best available evidence’ when seeking to justify particular decisions. However, a number of additional considerations have been identified as desirably or otherwise influencing policy-makers’ decisions, including fiscal and time constraints, personal experience, societal values, and short-term/long-term political strategy, to name a few. Indeed, arguably, policy-makers in contemporary democratic polities have no choice but to incorporate such considerations into their decision-making if they genuinely wish to produce a policy proposal that is both politically and publicly viable. Does such a situation problematically impede the meaningful realization of evidence-based policy? This essay offers some preliminary observations concerning certain tensions between the idea of evidence-based policy and the practice of democracy and briefly considers the degree to which those tensions might and should be resolved.

Key words: Public policy, evidence-based, democracy, political equality, majority rule.