Pieter Zwaan
Radboud University Nijmegen
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Publication
Featured researches published by Pieter Zwaan.
International Review of Administrative Sciences | 2016
Pieter Zwaan; Stijn van Voorst; Ellen Mastenbroek
Evaluations may perform a key role in political systems as they provide a basis for parliaments to hold their executives accountable. This is equally the case in the European Union. Yet, several factors may work against the usage of European Union evaluations for accountability purposes. Members of the European Parliament work under great time pressure and executives may have little incentives to produce high-quality evaluations. This article therefore addresses the question of to what extent and when Members of the European Parliament use ex post legislative evaluations. We present an analysis of 220 evaluations, studying how many were referred to in parliamentary questions. Our main finding is that 16% of the evaluations are followed up through questions. However, the parliamentary questions hardly serve accountability aims. Members of the European Parliament mostly use evaluations for agenda-setting purposes. The main variable explaining differences in the usage of evaluations is the level of conflict between the European Parliament and Commission during the legislative process. Points for practitioners This article studies the usage of ex post evaluations of European Union legislation by Members of the European Parliament for accountability purposes by analysing European Parliament questions. It shows that MEPs ask different types of questions, referring to ex post evaluations. Most of the questions reveal forward-looking rather than backward-looking motives, aimed at agenda-setting and policy change instead of accountability. It concludes that variance in parliamentary questions about the follow-up of evaluation outcomes can be explained by the level of conflict between the European Parliament and Commission during the legislative stage.
Journal of European Public Policy | 2018
Stijn van Voorst; Pieter Zwaan
ABSTRACT The European Commission has repeatedly emphasized that the results of ex post legislative (EPL) evaluations should be used to improve the quality of its legislative proposals. This article aims to explain the variation in such instrumental use of EPL evaluations by the Commission. Three high-quality EPL evaluations with varying levels of use were studied in-depth to assess the influence of political factors on evaluation use. The results show that, contrary to expectations, EPL evaluations may be used instrumentally even if their recommendations are opposed by important political actors in the legislative process. This article also shows that a lack of salience of the policy field to which an EPL evaluation belongs in the eyes of the Commission could, in combination with the institutions ambition to reduce its legislative output, be a sufficient condition for the non-use of that evaluation.
Sociologia Ruralis | 2016
Gerry Alons; Pieter Zwaan
Journal of Contemporary European Research | 2015
Pieter Zwaan; Gerry Alons
Revue Internationale des Sciences Administratives | 2016
Pieter Zwaan; Stijn van Voorst; Ellen Mastenbroek
Archive | 2014
Ellen Mastenbroek; Pieter Zwaan; Afke Groen; W.P. van Meurs; H. Reiding; Nora Dörrenbächer; Christine Neuhold
Archive | 2014
Ellen Mastenbroek; Pieter Zwaan; Afke Groen; W.P. van Meurs; H. Reiding; Nora Dörrenbächer; Christine Neuhold
Archive | 2014
Ellen Mastenbroek; Pieter Zwaan; Afke Groen; Wim van Meurs; H. Reiding; Nora Dörrenbächer; Christine Neuhold
Archive | 2014
Ellen Mastenbroek; Pieter Zwaan; Afke Groen; W. van Meurs; H. Reiding; Nora Dörrenbächer; Christine Neuhold
Archive | 2014
Ellen Mastenbroek; Pieter Zwaan; Afke Groen; W. van Meurs; H. Reiding; Nora Dörrenbächer; Christine Neuhold