Hollow by Design: why policy evaluation remains hollow in the MENA region, Ep. 3

https://doi.org/10.1177/0193841X26147... Ben Brik, A. (2026). Hollow by design: Why evaluation systems decouple in the MENA region. Evaluation Review. Evaluation laws, units and mandates now exist across the Middle East and North Africa, but few produce evaluations that inform decisions. This episode explains why formal institutionalisation decouples from practice, and introduces the concept of professional hollowness. Chapters 0:00 Hollow by design 0:23 What if a law is designed to do nothing? 1:22 The illusion of reform 1:55 Isomorphic mimicry 2:25 Necessary, not sufficient 3:21 Professional hollowness 4:32 The winning formula 5:48 Are we funding capacity, or paying for mimics? Listen to the podcast: Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... | Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/71qP42V... Episode page: https://anisbenbrik.net/listen-hollow... This video was generated with NotebookLM from the published article. Dr Anis Ben Brik | anisbenbrik.net