The politics of policy diffusion

2019/02/13 by Fabrizio Gilardi, Fabio Wasserfallen · 241 citations
Business, Management and Accounting · Social Sciences · #Articulation (sociology) #Coercion (linguistics) #Competition (biology) #Computer science #Diffusion #Economic growth #Economic system #Economics #Electoral Systems and Political Participation #Emulation #Focus (optics) #Interdependence #Law #Policy Transfer and Learning #Political Influence and Corporate Strategies #Political economy #Political science #Politics #Positive economics #Public economics #Sociology #State (computer science)

paper · doi:10.1111/1475-6765.12326

published in European Journal of Political Research 58(4), 1245-1256 (Wiley)

openalex publication_date 2019/02/13 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

Abstract This article discusses the recent literature on policy diffusion and puts forward a new articulation of its political dimensions. Policy diffusion means that policies in one unit (country, state, city, etc.) are influenced by the policies of other units. The diffusion literature conceptualises these interdependencies with four mechanisms: learning, competition, coercion and emulation. The article identifies a model of diffusion that is dominant in the diffusion literature. According to this model, policies spread because decision makers evaluate the policy implications of the actions of other units. It is argued that the role of politics remains in the background in this model, and the article shows how going beyond a narrow focus on policy adoptions helps us to consider the politics of policy diffusion more explicitly.

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Related

• The Diffusion of Policy Diffusion Research in Political Science
• The Politics of Diffusion: Public Policy in the American States
• Policy diffusion and policy transfer
• Transfer and translation of policy
• Learning from Abroad: The Role of Policy Transfer in Contemporary Policy‐Making