The Limitations of ‘Policy Transfer’ and ‘Lesson Drawing’ for Public Policy Research
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6348809 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Oliver James (0000-0001-6031-2581, University of Exeter), Martin Lodge (0000-0002-4273-6118, London School of Economics and Political Science) |
| Year | 2003 |
| Volume | 1 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 179-193 |
| Publication date | 2003-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Political Studies Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1478-9299 • E-ISSN: 1478-9302 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1111/1478-9299.t01-1-00003 |
| OpenAlex | W2134336325 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 153 |
| References cited | 53 |
The concepts of ‘lesson drawing’ and ‘policy transfer’ have become increasingly influential ways of understanding public policy, especially in the UK. However, the main proponents of the concepts, Rose for ‘lesson drawing’ and Dolowitz and Marsh for ‘policy transfer’, have difficulty in providing convincing answers to three questions that are important for them and those engaged in similar studies. First, can they be defined as distinctive forms of policy-making separate from other, more conventional, forms? ‘Lesson drawing’ is very similar to conventional accounts of ‘rational’ policy-making and ‘policy transfer’ is very difficult to define distinctly from many other forms of policy-making. Second, why does ‘lesson drawing’ and ‘policy transfer’ occur rather than some other form of policy-making? The proponents of ‘policy transfer’ put a set of diverse and conflicting theories under a common framework, obscuring differences between them. Third, what are the effects of ‘lesson drawing’ and ‘policy transfer’ on policy-making and how do they compare to other processes? Whilst the effect of more ‘lesson drawing’ seems to be more ‘rational’ policy-making, the effect of ‘policy transfer’ on policy ‘success’ and ‘failure’ is less clear. Dolowitz and Marsh redescribe aspects of ‘failure’ as different forms of ‘transfer’ rather than giving independent reasons for outcomes based on features of transfer processes. Overall, particularly in the case of ‘policy transfer’, researchers may be better off selecting from a range of alternative approaches than limiting themselves to these conceptual frameworks
Economics · Limiting · Policy analysis · Policy studies · Policy transfer · Political science · Positive economics · Public economics · Public policy · Set (abstract data type · Sociology · Computer Science · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Engineering · Law · Policy Transfer and Learning · Public Administration · Social Policy and Reform Studies
Policy diffusion, policy transfer, and policy mobilities revisited
Internationalisation and Economic Institutions
Importing Ideas
The Logic of Policy Change after Crisis
Replanting the Flower in Different Soil? A Critical Analysis of Education Borrowing in Hong Kong
Transfer Policy on Creative City
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Comparative Public Policy
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Les écarts comme leviers d’institutionnalisation
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Structural Impediments to Policy Learning
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Brazil’s Agricultural Politics in Africa
Actually Existing Comparative Urbanism
A Global Solution to Local Urban Crises?Comparing Discourses on Business Improvement Districts in Cape Town and Hamburg
Common Ground in Australia
The Pupil Premium and policy transfer in English standalone and system leader multi-academy trust academies
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The role of policy transfer in Indonesian governance
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Assessing policy transfer from the United States to the British National Health Service
Reconceptualizing transfer pathways
Policy transfer as learning
Overseas and over here
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Legitimation by standards
La légitimation par les normes
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Intermunicipal cooperation
Missions, conditions and the policy transfer of Smart Specialisation in the European Union
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Prescriptions for Regional Economic Dilemmas
The nerves of government
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Turbulence in World Politics
Theories of the Policy Process
Regulation Inside Government
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The iron cage revisited institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields
Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance
Continuity and Change in Contemporary Capitalism
The Politics of Telecommunications
Divergent Production Regimes
Who Learns What from Whom
Has globalization ended the rise and rise of the nation-state
Understanding Policy Transfer
Regulation Inside Government
Policy Networks and Policy Learning UK Economic Policy in the 1960s and 1970s
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The Development of Public Services in Western Europe, 1660–1930
Explaining Cross-National Variance in Administrative Reform
Market-making policy in Europe
National tunes and a European melody? Competition law reform in the UK and Germany
Towards Convergence in Europe? Institutional Adaptation to Europeanization in Germany and Spain
The national impact of European Union regulatory policy
Theories of the Policy Process
Isomorphism of national policies? The ‘Europeanisation’ of German competition and public procurement law
Learning Lessons and Transferring Policy across Time, Space and Disciplines
Theoretical and Logical Issues in the Study of International Diffusion
Social Learning and Macroeconomic Policy in Britain
Sleeping with an Elephant
The Open Method as a New Mode of Governance
Introduction
Paradoxes of the Competition State
Non‐Governmental Policy Transfer
Understanding Cross National Policy Transfers
Understanding Ripple Effects
Business Models and the Transfer of Businesslike CentralGovernment Agencies
Learning from Abroad
"Any More Bright Ideas?" The Ideational Turn of Comparative Political Economy
What Is Policy Convergence and What Causes It
An Ever Closer Fusion? A Dynamic Macropolitical View on Integration Processes
What is Lesson-Drawing
Policy Paradigms, Social Learning, and the State
Legal Irritants
Increasing Returns, Path Dependence, and the Study of Politics
The Diffusion of Innovations among the American States
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| Unique citing works | 153 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 6,95 |
| Citation span | 2004 - 2026 (23) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | Yes |
| Citation types | Neutral: 152 |