1996 - Dolowitz Who Learns What From Whom
1996 - Dolowitz Who Learns What From Whom
1996 - Dolowitz Who Learns What From Whom
Our review is both narrower and broader than the major existing review by
Bennett.* Bennett’s approach is broader in that he concentrates upon the
general pattern of convergence between the policies adopted by nations. In
contrast, our focus is more narrowly upon the transfer of specific policies as a
result of strategic decisions taken by actors inside and outside government. At
the same time however, our approach is broader, particularly because we:
advanced the weaknesses of the approach emerged; so that by the 1980s a major
critical review argued: ‘(the) major problem of this research tradition is that it
reveals nothing about the content of new policies. Its fascination is with process
not s~bstance’.~It was as a result of this perceived need to answer questions
ignored by diffusion studies that comparative policy analysts began discussing
lesson drawing and policy transfer.
Initially transfer studies primarily focused upon voluntary transfer, seeing the
process as one in which policies implemented elsewhere were examined by
rational political actors for their potential utilization within another political
system. More recently the literature has begun to address questions concerning
coercive transfer.
Who Transfers Policy?
This literature identifies six main categories of actors involved in policy transfer,
although in any specific case of transfer more than one category of actor is likely
to be involved: elected official$ political par tie^;^ bureaucrats/civil servants;*
pressure groups;’ policy entrepreneurslexperts; and supra-national institutions.
The role of the first four is well rehearsed, but the last two categories merit brief
discussion.
Policy EntrepreneurslExperts
As Rose points out, policy entrepreneurs are not only important to lesson
drawing because of their advocacy of lessons, but also because: ‘their concern
with a special subject . . . leads them to build up a nationwide or international
network of contacts that are a source of ideas for new programs’.’’
The role of such policy entrepreneurs in the international spread of an idea is
clearly illustrated in Rowat’s study of Ombudsmen. He argues:
There is no doubt that some of the ombudsmen themselves have been very
influential in bringing about the further spread of the institution,
particularly Professor Hurwitz of Denmark . . . and Sir Guy Powles of
New Zealand.”
In this way experts from inside and outside government interact to spread
Supra-national Organizations
As Rose argues:
parison . . . so that member states can become aware of what their competitors
are doing and decide which elements of foreign programs they may wish to copy
these studies is they pay too little attention to the fact that international
later.
Lessons can be used in a number of ways and for a variety of reasons. Both
lessons from abroad often are put forward as politically neutral truths. Beneath
this . . . adversaries are just as often using such lessons as political weapons’.I6
that at the margin the two types merge. In addition, a further distinction needs
to be made between cases of direct coercive transfer and those cases in which the
Most authors suggest that the primary catalyst of voluntary transfer is some
properly there is no need to search for lessons; everything can operate through
and Skocpol found social democratic policy ideas were re-articulated from past
attempts to implement Keynesian type programme^.^^
Searching for lessons within a political system‘s past has the advantage of
saving time and resources. However, searching the past involves subjective
evaluation; while history is constant it is open to many interpretations and
current situation’s may not be truly analogous to past ones. Indeed, when
drawing lessons actors might not truly understand the past or its relation to the
present. At the same time, given that most policy develops over time, deciding
from which period to draw lessons can critically affect the lesson drawn.
Finally, as Rose points out, time is not a constant when actors are engaging in
policy transfer: ‘obstacles to lesson-drawing are not permanent; in the course of
time many obstacles become variable^'.^^
When searching within a nation, actors may start with their own organization
because different branches and divisions provide opportunities for transferring
administrative techniques and procedures. As Rose emphasizes: ‘the first lace
Actors can also draw lessons from other political systems within their own
country if its constitutional structures create a series of similar sub-national
units of government within a relatively harmonious political culture. As an
example, the United States 1988 Family Support Act, was developed based
upon the experiences of state welfare programmes during the 1980~.~’
Although constraints exist, it is common for governments and agents to
transfer policies from one nation to another. So, for example, in the welfare
area international policy transfer has played a crucial role in the spread of poor
laws and unemployment legislation since the nineteenth century. Not only were
British poor houses adopted in the United States during the nineteenth century,
but, as Heclo shows: ‘experience in Denmark and New Zealand were important
in Britain . . . however, it was experience in Germany that stirred greatest
international interest’.6’
Some countries and regional governments commonly export policies to other
nations and regions. While examining policy transfer between the United States
and Canada, Robertson and Waltman found that particular American States
and Canadian Provinces acted as policy leaders: ‘(their) innovations are
disproportionately copied by neighbouring jurisdictions’.62 Heclo shows that
Germany played a similar role in the transfer of unemployment insurance to
Sweden and Britain during the early twentieth century.63 Similarly, Bennett
found that the 1973 Swedish Data Act acted as an exemplar to other nations
instituting data protection laws.
The basic assumption involved in drawing lessons from other nations is that:
‘similarities are greater within a given program across national boundaries than
among different programs within a ~ountry’.~’When drawing lessons across
nations, geographic propinquity does not equate with policy transfer because
ideological and resource similarities are necessary preconditions to adapt
lessons from one country to another and neighbouring countries do not always
meet these preconditions. We return to this question below.
What Factors Constrain Policy Transfer?
The complexity of a programme affects its transferability; the more complex a
policy or programme is the harder it will be to transfer. Although the effect of
complexity on transferability is an understudied area, Rose suggests six
hypotheses:
1 programmes with single goals are more transferable than programmes
with multiple goals;
2 the simpler the problem the more likely transfer will occur;
3 the more direct the relationship between the problem and the ‘solution’ is
perceived to be the more likely it is to be transferred:
4 the fewer the perceived side-effects of a policy the greater the possibility of
transfer;
5 the more information agents have about how a programme operates in
another location the easier it is to transfer;
6 the more easily outcomes can be predicted the simpler a programme is to
transfer.66
These hypotheses offer a basis for future research but attention also needs to
be paid to the way complexity interacts with the other factors discussed here to
help shape what is transferred and in what form.
Rose makes a key point which students of policy neglect at their peril:
Policy makers are inheritors before they are choosers; as a condition of
taking office they swear to uphold the laws and programs that predecessors
have set . . . new programs cannot be constructed on green field sites . . . they
must be introduced into a policy environment dense with past commitment ~ . ~ ’
Past policies constrain agents as to both what can be transferred and what
agents look for when engaging in policy transfer. In this way, Heclo demon-
strates how past policy constraints influenced the approaches Britain and
Sweden adopted when developing social policies during the twentieth century.68
Similarly, Robertson and Waltman show how existing policy commitments
constrained transfer between the Reagan and Thatcher Administrations,
despite the fact they shared ideological goals.