Evidence-based Policymaking: Practice And Enlightenment Of The United States

Evidence-based Policy Making emphasizes the core role of evidence in the process of policy making,and advocates bringing rigorous and effective evidence into the process of policy making and evaluation,so as to improve the scientific nature of decision-making and the quality of public policy.Evidence-based policy began at the end of last century in the British and have rapidly prevailed in the western developed countries.Inspired by the practice and its own national needs,the United States has vigorously promoted evidence-based policy development based on learning from relevant experience since the beginning of this century.Now it has experienced three stages which are production,development,deepen,and formed a relatively mature system.It can be said that the practice of the US is another model about the implementation of evidence-based policy making in western countries.However,as far as the present situation is concerned,the domestic research mainly focuses on the specific practice of evidence-based policy making in the UK,but pays no attention to the practice of the US.By exploring the theoretical basis,institutional framework and specific practice of evidence-based policy making in the United States,this paper aims to enrich the theory of China’s policy making,and by summarizing the experience of evidence-based policy making in the United States,we can consider its enlightenment to the modernization of China’s governance system and governance capacity.The evidence-based policy making in the United States is based on certain theories.The sublation of traditional rationalism,the theory of community disharmony,the two-way interaction model and the factors affecting the use of evidence reveal the theoretical logic of evidence-based policy making.Systems formed by environmental factors,evidence producers,evidence intermediaries,evidence consumers and the public or stakeholders constitute the institutional framework of evidence-based policy making.Under the institutional framework,the United States has introduced many specific measures in the production,transformation and application of evidence,and achieved remarkable results in such fields as education,medical care and criminal justice.At present,the procedures and norms for policy formulation in China are still insufficient,and the scientific and democratic nature of policy formulation is still lacking.draw lessons from American experience in evidence-based policy,we can start by building awareness,establishing specialized institutions,producing high-quality evidence,building data exchange platforms,and strengthening the use of evidence to strengthen the modernization of China’s governance system and capacity.