The Politics of Performance Measurements

Seminar abstract

Contemporary performance measurement in the public sector is rooted in the management science of New Public Management.

This legacy has obfuscated the political nature of measurement.

Measurement has been professed to show what works, independent of warring political parties competing ideologies. In reality, performance measurement cannot escape politics.

Based on a literature review, Dr Wouter van Dooren will explore three ways how performance information is political.

Indicators are used for political tactics, political reasoning and political statecraft. He will then discuss what the political nature of performance measurement implies for performance measurement.

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This seminar is free to attend with no need to book ion advance. We warmly invite you to share with your friends, colleagues and classmates.

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Speaker bio

Professor Wouter van Dooren is a Professor of Public Administration at the Department of Political Science of the University of Antwerp and the Antwerp Management School.

Before, he was a postdoctoral fellow of the Flemish Research Foundation, seconded expert at the OEDC's Governance Directorate, and researcher at the KULeuven's Public Governance Institute.

He studies indicator based governance, accountability, citizen-state interaction and policy conflict escalation.

He published a widely used textbook titled Performance Management in the Public Sector (Routledge) with Geert Bouckaert and John Halligan.