The evaluative state, the evaluative society - and beyond

As an analytical concept, the ‘evaluative state’ captured key transformations regarding shifts in the public governance of higher education occurring throughout Western Europe during the 1980s and the 1990s. As Guy Neave, the inventor of the concept argued, the evaluative state represented an attempt to go beyond bureaucratic modes of steering universities via homogeneous legislation towards a more instrumental mode of governance relying upon formal performance criteria and standards and contractual autonomy arrangements. The interest in evaluation of higher education institutions and activities has continued in the decades since, and this chapter argues that the ongoing expansion of forms and mechanisms of evaluation and the number of stakeholders involved in this activity has paved the way for what some have labelled an ‘evaluative society’. The chapter discusses the factors driving this development and future implications related to the governance of higher education.