Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.20901/pm.55.1.05
Contemporary Public Policy Processes: How to Research Policy Transfer?
Marjeta Šinko
orcid.org/0000-0003-1422-4788
; Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
From the second half of the twentieth century policy scholars are increasingly devoting their attention to the transference of policy from one political jurisdiction to another. Concepts such as policy diffusion, convergence and transfer are being used to elucidate the modern-day policy process. Policy transfer, the youngest of these approaches, has been gaining momentum from the second half of the nineties and has grown into a respectable, widely cited and used research frame. This article is a historical account of policy transfer research. In addition to examining the evolution of similar approaches (diffusion, convergence, and transfer), the original systematization and demarcation of different studies is offered. The paper concludes with the insight that policy transfer studies are distinctive in relation to convergence and diffusion studies. They are characterized by an analytical focus on processes, on understanding of policy actors’ actions, on qualitative methodology, and using small samples. The paper concludes that policy transfer studies are an excellent heuristic tool because they enable a multidimensional research of the policy process.
Keywords
Public Policies; Transfer; Diffusion; Convergence; Policy Change
Hrčak ID:
196788
URI
Publication date:
26.3.2018.
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