Policy Diffusion in Polarized Times: The Case of the Affordable Care Act

Abstract

With increasing ideological polarization both within states and across states, policy makers face new challenges in developing and refining policies. This essay explores these challenges in the context of the spread of health policies across the states under the Affordable Care Act, highlighting key arguments and findings from the authors in this Special Issue. I discuss how common mechanisms of policy diffusion, the attributes of policies themselves, and the conditional nature of policy diffusion all play somewhat different roles during polarized times. In addition to new challenges to policy makers, polarization offers new opportunities for experimentation and learning that may be valuable to scholars and practitioners alike.

Difusi Kebijakan Keterbukaan Informasi Publik Di Kabupaten Bandung Barat

“…Dalam tulisannya (Volden, 2017) menyampaikan "Terpisah dari pembelajaran, negara dapat mengadopsi kebijakan yang ditemukan di tempat lain melalui mekanisme difusi yang biasa disebut sebagai "imitasi". Imitasi melibatkan penyalinan kebijakan yang ditemukan di tempat lain tanpa memperhatikan keefektifannya.…”

The Social, Political, and Economic Effects of the Affordable Care Act: Introduction to the Issue

“…In the degree to which public opinion is associated with Medicaid expansion decisions, the opinions of white state residents matter, not those of nonwhites (Grogan and Park 2017). That ACA implementation occurs at a time of heightened political polarization complicates the usual pathways by which policies diffuse from one state to another (Volden 2017). Finally, and in some ways most normatively concerning, actual health insurance need in the state does not seem to matter for politicians' decision making (Jacobs and Callaghan 2013; Barrilleaux and Rainey 2014).…”

The Politics of Passing and Implementing Medical Marijuana in Ohio

“…Scholars have studied the diffusion patterns of public policies in the states (F. S. Berry & Berry, 1990;Gray, 1973;Karch, 2007;Walker, 1969). Diffusion research has focused on four broad mechanisms to explain the spread of policies: learning, imitation, competition, and coercion (Volden, 2017). Policy learning occurs when states observe the actions of other states, and if successful, adopt the policies as their own.…”