Rethinking democratic evaluation for a polarised and mediatised society

This article discusses how democratic evaluation can manage threats to democracy, democratic renewal, and the mediatisation of public policy and governance. It considers the readiness of five democratic evaluation orientations to deal with current threats and discusses how to develop them. It demonstrates that democratic evaluation is poorly prepared to manage current threats to democracy or the mediatisation of public policy. Progressive evaluation is the only approach offering some new keys to addressing certain current threats and challenges. The other orientations have some capacity to manage threats to democracy and support democratic renewal, but need further development. The article suggests that democratic evaluation could be a constructive tool for maintaining and developing democracy in an increasingly polarised and mediatised society if evaluators gain knowledge of threats to democracy, democratic transition, and democratic renewal and, informed by mediatisation and democracy research, develop the necessary awareness and competence to deal with these challenges