Evidence-Based Policy Making and the Implementation of Regulatory Impact Assessment in Croatia

Purpose: This study is dealing with the application of evidence-based policy-making in Croatian public administration and the general role of applied policy analysis in the Croatian system of governance. Methodology: This development is illustrated by the peculiarities of introducing regulatory impact assessment (RIA) tools in Croatian public administrative structures. Findings: The author is pointing out various limitations in the usage of policy analysis tools in formulating, implementing and evaluating public policies in Croatia. The crucial role of RIA for enhancing executive capacity of governance structures is particularly stressed in the study. The final part of the article is devoted to the prospects of further development of RIA as an applied policy analysis tool within the Croatian system of governance.