The Diffusion of Policy Diffusion Research in Political Science

Abstract

Over the past fifty years, top political science journals have published hundreds of articles about policy diffusion. This article reports on network analyses of how the ideas and approaches in these articles have spread both within and across the subfields of American politics, comparative politics and international relations. Then, based on a survey of the literature, the who, what, when, where, how and why of policy diffusion are addressed in order to identify and assess some of the main contributions and omissions in current scholarship. It is argued that studies of diffusion would benefit from paying more attention to developments in other subfields and from taking a more systematic approach to tackling the questions of when and how policy diffusion takes place.

Exploring the transferability and applicability of gang evaluation methodologies to counter-violent radicalisation

“…This concept is of course not new: there is a substantial body of literature that explores whether, how, and when cross-fertilisation across different policy areas can occur (e.g. Graham et al, 2013;Meseguer and Gilardi, 2009;Stone, 1999). Some authors have argued that more attention should be paid to a more systematic approach to tackling the questions of when and how diffusion takes place (Graham et al, 2013).…”

“…Graham et al, 2013;Meseguer and Gilardi, 2009;Stone, 1999). Some authors have argued that more attention should be paid to a more systematic approach to tackling the questions of when and how diffusion takes place (Graham et al, 2013). Focusing on one of the policy stages, namely evaluation, this report provides a comprehensive assessment of whether and how such learning and cross-fertilisation in evaluation practice can take place between two different yet comparable fields.…”

Paradiplomacy, Security Policies and City Networks: the Case of the Mercocities Citizen Security Thematic Unit

“…The related literature has been developed since the 1960s through academic research in different areas of study, such as comparative politics, American politics, and international relations (Gilardi 2012;Graham, Shipan and Volden 2012).…”

“…Analysts use no fewer than 104 different terms, which could be grouped into a few different mechanisms or processes (Graham, Shipan and Volden 2012). However, is essential to define policy transfer and policy diffusion before explaining these mechanisms, the actors involved, and what is transferred in the process in question.…”

“…The kinds of actors are internal actors, who make decisions about public policy; external actors, namely the external governments that generate the polices which are adopted or transferred; and the go-betweens, non-government actors that are not involved in the policy process, but participate in policy discussions (Graham, Shipan and Volden 2012).…”