This book explains the increasing demand for evaluation as a result of the increasing frequency of reforms to local services, influenced by the New Public Management doctrine, the severe austerity policy in many European countries, and the wish to increase quality and reduce costs of public services, especially at the local (sub-national) level. Positioned at the interface of local services and evaluation research, it will enable the utilization of evaluation-generated knowledge in evidence-based policy making by focusing on the lessons learned from evaluation of local service delivery. It encompasses local public and social services (including waste, water, public transport, healthcare, education and eldercare) and examines the hypothesis that there is a North-West–South-East divide in Europe in terms of the evaluation of local service reforms. Particular attention is devoted to the explanatory function of evaluation. Providing fresh insight into the functioning of local government machinery in contemporary Europe, this book will appeal in particular to practitioners and students of local government, public economy, public administration and policy.

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This book examines local migration policy in Sweden in light of the European migrant crisis. The novel approach of this volume covers both local governments’ policies on admission of immigrants and their efforts for enhancing social integration. The focus is on the division of responsibilities between political levels, examined through theories encompassing both governance structures and output and outcomes of policy. Sweden is a rare example where migration policy has undergone massive changes in the last decade. During the crisis, the country received some of the largest flows of immigrants in relation to its population compared with other European countries. Drawing from statistical material, case studies and a rich body of interviews, this innovative work provides a valuable resource that aspires to investigate the significance of the local level of government in migration policy. The objective is to reach general conclusions that go beyond the realms of the empirical focus.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 15th World Congress on Services, SERVICES 2019, held as part of the Services Conference Federation, SCF 2019, in San Diego, USA, in June 2019. The 11 full papers and 2 short papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 14 submissions. The papers cover topics in the field of software engineering foundations and applications with a focus on novel approaches for engineering requirements, design and architectures, testing, maintenance and evolution, model-driven development, software processes, metrics, quality assurance and new software economics models, search-based software engineering, benefiting day-to-day services sectors and derived through experiences, with appreciation to scale, pragmatism, transparency, compliance and/or dependability.

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