Learning from Abroad: The Role of Policy Transfer in Contemporary Policy‐Making

“In the political science and public policy literature this is what is often referred to as the “wicked problems” (i.e., problems in constant flux) associated with policy planning, implementation, and transfer (Dolowitz & Marsh, 1996, 2000; Rittel & Webber, 1973; Stone, 2012).”

“Such elements are summarised in a seminal work by Dolowitz and Marsh (2000) and now have been explored by a considerable number of studies.”

“A first set of research programmes asks questions about how organizational procedures and styles become ever more homogeneous, how complex organizations learn from one another, how organizational solutions travel from one constituency to another, and what the factors facilitating the acceptance of ‘alien’ solutions ‘a…”

“Dolowitz and Marsh (2000), for example, demonstrate the importance and scope of it.”

“Additionally, programmatic groups in the tradition of policy transfer and diffusion models (Dolowitz & Marsh, 2000; Zohlnhöfer & Ostheim, 2007) might refer to other country examples to borrow narratives that display them as modernizers and great reformers.”

“In relation to the quality of the information relied upon, diffusion and policy transfer scholars distinguish between learning that is fully rational and learning that is bounded (Dolowitz and Marsh, 2000; Braun and Gilardi, 2006).”

“The messages implicit in the design shape the ways in which implementing agents initially make sense of a given policy (Spillane et al., 2002, 2006)—coercively or voluntarily (Dolowitz & Marsh, 2000).”

“See Evans (2009b) for a broad discussion and Dolowitz and Marsh (1996, 2000) for an alternative approach.”

“The transfer from Italy was a process of lesson-drawing and emulation (Rose 1993 , Dolowitz and Marsh 2000 ).”

“Related to the concept of lesson-drawing, is the conceptualization of learning as policy transfer (Bennett 1991; Dolowitz 1997; Dolowitz and Marsh 1996, 2000) where knowledge about policies, administrative arrangements, and institutions from one place or time are transferred for use in developing…”

“…is, ‘a process in which knowledge about policies, administrative arrangements, institutions and ideas in one political setting (past or present) is used in the development of policies, administrative arrangements, institutions and ideas in another political setting’ (Dolowitz & Marsh 2000, p. 5).”

“Many education systems in low-income countries are dependent on external assistance and it often seems that reform occurs during the period in which grants or loans are made available ( Dolowitz and Marsh 2000 ).”

“…of information for the implementation of coup-proofing policies, which makes it unlikely that this is based on domestic information only (Most and Starr 1990; Dolowitz and Marsh 2000; Elkins and Simmons 2005; Simmons, Dobbin and Garret 2006; Franzese and Hays 2008; Gilardi 2010; Gilardi 2012).”

“The implicit assumption underpinning these programmes is that there will be policy transfer between partners (Dolowitz and Marsh, 1996; 2000), so that the interventions being pursued in municipalities, regions and countries that are ‘leading’ on a particular agenda (in this case low carbon…”

“Inappropriate or incomplete transfer is recognized as an important source of implementation failure (Dolowitz and Marsh, 2000).”

““Consensual knowledge” (Dolowitz & Marsh, 2000) therefore acted as a shaping mechanism for the transfer process in this case.”

“Overall, this relates to (Dolowitz and Marsh 2000, p. 17) notion of ‘inappropriate transfer’ where not enough attention is paid to the contextual differences between the ‘transferring’ and ‘borrowing’ countries.”

“Empirically, the active exchange of policy ideas and experiences relating to welfare, labour market and social policy by the WCPN since 1989 has clear implications for much of the literature on the transfer of public policy (see e.g. inter alia, Dolowitz and Marsh 2000, Stone 2003”

“To this end, we discuss the drawbacks of comparative studies that are central to successful ‘learning from abroad’ (Dolowitz & Marsh, 2000) and, in an attempt to avoid these drawbacks, turn to Edward Said’s essay Traveling theory (1983).”

“…mobilities scholars such as McCann and Ward (2013) and Peck and Theodore (2015) have positioned the policy mobilities ‘approach’ as being more geographically sensitive than the longer-standing work in political science on policy transfer (e.g. Benson and Jordan, 2011; Dolowitz and Marsh, 2000).”

“…example, is thus excluded from our analysis (Bennett & Howlett, 1992).3 Likewise, learning from any form of experience, including foreign experiences – as opposed to learning from knowledge – is not within the scope of this article (Carpenter, 2004; Dolowitz & Marsh, 2000; Shipan & Volden, 2008).”

“Public policy transfers (Dolowitz and Marsh 2000; Gilardi 2012) have featured prominently on the agenda of intergovernmental organisations such as the World Bank and UN Development Programme (UNDP), but also within regional regimes such as the EU, the Organization of American States (OAS), and…”

“…treat the adoption of austerity measures in parts of Europe after 2008–2009 as a consequence of the work of supranational entities such as the OECD and the World Bank thereby producing ‘policy convergence’ or ‘policy diffusion’ (Benson & Jordan, 2011; Dolowitz & Marsh, 2000, p. 5; Goetschy, 2003).”

“…increase in the similarity between one or more characteristics of a certain policy across a given set of political jurisdictions over a given period of time” (Knill 2005, 768), including material and non-material policies, under which Dolowitz and Marsh (2000, 12) subsume “structures of meaning”.”

“Studies on policy transfer, in contrast to diffusion studies, examine concrete processes where knowledge about policies, administrative arrangements, and institutions is used in the development of policies in another time, place, or both (Dolowitz and Marsh 2000).”

“…become a lively area of scientific inquiry (Waltman, 1980; Westney, 1987; Rose, 1991, 1993, 2005; Bennett, 1991; Wolman, 1992, 2009; Stone, 1999; Dolowitz & Marsh, 2000; Common, 2001; Wolman & Page, 2002; Mossberger & Wolman, 2003; Evans 2004; Casey & Gold, 2005; Marsh, 2009; Sharman, 2010;…”

“The experience of Cambodia, unlike that in Singapore, exemplifies a situation where ‘‘voluntary policy transfer’’ is enmeshed with ‘‘coercive policy transfer’’ because the country depends so heavily on external assistance ( Dolowitz and Marsh 2000, as cited in Steiner-Khamsi 2006).”

“…Newburn draw especially on the work of Evans and Davies (1999) and Smith (2004) to identify whether policy transfer has occurred or not, as well as Dolowitz and Marsh (2000) to consider what is transferred, where lessons are drawn from, what degrees of transfer occur, what constrains or…”

“domestic higher education landscape), uncertainties involved in the process (about whether the proposed changes would indeed meet the objectives of the reform?), legitimacy (would non-adherence be perceived as problematic?) and compatibility (can the reform elements be matched with institutional legacies?). I now retu…”

“The local adoption of global ideas has been conceptualized also as policy transfer (e.g. Dolowitz and Marsh 2000) and translation of global ideas (e.g. Czarniawska and Joerges 1996).”

“Moreover, policy makers increasingly observe and analyze other countries for knowledge, ideas, and lessons learned about how similar programs and policies work in other contexts (Dolowitz & Marsh, 2000).”

“…considerations or interstate competitive pressures which create new problems and agendas that contribute to policy and institutional change (standards adoption, regulatory reform, or adherence to “best-practice”/rankings) (Carroll & Jarvis, 2013; Dolowitz & Marsh, 1996, 2000; Jarvis, 2017a, 2017b).”

“Global integration and the adoption of CSR standards Policy transfer theory provides a framework for understanding how policies converge and are transmitted between nations (Benson & Jordan, 2011; Dolowitz & Marsh, 2000).”

“Policy transfer can be defined as a ‘process in which knowledge about policies, administrative arrangements, institutions and ideas in one political system (past or present) is used in the development of policies, administrative arrangements, institutions and ideas in another political setting’ (Dolowitz and Marsh 200…”

“…as a ‘process in which knowledge about policies, administrative arrangements, institutions etc. in one time and/or place is used in the development of policies, administrative arrangements and institutions in another time and/or place’ (1996, p. 344; also see Dolowitz & Marsh 2000; radaelli 2000a).”

“D lowi z and Marsh [32] st te, that a transfer of policy can be carried out in various grades such as (1) complete transfer (copying), (2) transfer of the ideas behind the policy (emulation), (3) fusions of different policies (combinations) and (4) taking inspiration from a policy with a different jurisdiction, whereb…”

“The notion of such learning as a rational act by policy makers was carried forward by authors such as Dolowitz and Marsh [36–38] through their notion of policy transfer.”

“It has been suggested that when searching for policy solutions to new and challenging problems, governments are likely to look for solutions from abroad (Dolowitz & Marsh, 2000).”

“In this form, regional developments are treated as the result of mere policy transfer (e.g. Dolowitz and Marsh 2000) instead of scrutinising, as recommended by Peck and Theodore (2015), the places in which policy comes to rest or, in other words, the assemblages of policy translation (see also…”

“In terms of the quality or intensity of policy transfer from one jurisdiction to another, Dolowitz and Marsh identify four different gradations of transfer: copying (direct and complete transfer); emulation (transfer of the basic ideas with adjustments for different circumstances); combinations (transfer of policies a…”

“Indeed, there is a rich body of literature from the domain of political science that explores issues related to transferring, diffusing, or drawing lessons from policies enacted elsewhere (see Dolowitz & Marsh, 2000; Hall, 1993; Rose, 1993).”