Public Policy Circulation: Arenas, Agents and Actions (2019)

Policy-making is more globally connected than ever before. Policy ideas, experiences and expertise circulate with great speed and over great distances. But who is involved in moving policy, how do they do it, and through which arenas? This book examines the work involved in policy circulation. As the first genuinely interdisciplinary collection on policy circulation, the book showcases theoretical approaches from across the social sciences—including policy diffusion, transfer and mobility—and offers empirical perspectives from across the world.

olicy making is more globally connected today than ever before. Policy ideas, experiences and expertise circulate rapidly over great distances. But who is involved in distributing policy, how do they do it, and through which arenas? This book examines the work involved in policy circulation, and as the first genuinely transdisciplinary collection on policy circulation, it offers an insight into the globally dispersed yet interconnected nature of contemporary policy making and the transdisciplinary future of policy circulation studies.

Bringing together international scholars and multidisciplinary perspectives, this book showcases theoretical approaches from across the social sciences, and offers empirical perspectives from around the world. Synthesizing related literatures on policy transfer, diffusion and mobility, and assessing their differences and commonalities, this book proposes ways to foster transdisciplinary dialogue. Including a range of case studies, from both the Global North and South, Public Policy Circulation provides a succinct understanding and critique of the Global policy transfer, diffusion and mobility through the lens of arenas, agents and actions.

Introduction
1. Introduction 
Tom Baker and Christopher Walker

Arenas
2. Policy circulation through the Twitterverse: The case of Arctic development policy
Jennifer Spence

3. Seeing is believing? Understanding policy tourism as an arena for policy circulation
Tom Baker and Pauline McGuirk

4. The South as an arena of policy circulation: South-South cooperation on human rights policies
Michelle Morais de Sá e Silva

Agents
5. Big philanthropies as agents of policy circulation in development: Examining the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Roosa Jolkkonen

6. The business of global intermediaries in the promotion of bus rapid transit
Astrid Wood

7. Failure is an option: Epistemic communities and the circulation of Health Technology Assessment
Alexandru Rusu and Olga Löblová

Actions
8. Collaborative interactions: Understanding transfer success in transport regulation and compliance policies
Christopher Walker

9. Policy transfer strategies: How agents’ actions ensure lessons from abroad stick at home
Mauricio I. Dussauge-Laguna

10. Enacting persuasion: Storytelling, emotional artefacts and face-to-face encounters as key actions behind policy circulation
Sergio Montero

11. Policy narratives and policy transfer mechanisms: Towards a research agenda
Titilayo Soremi

Conclusion
12. Prospects for policy circulation studies: Towards engaged pluralism?
Tom Baker, Mauricio I. Dussauge-Laguna, Roosa Jolkkonen, Olga Löblová, Pauline McGuirk, Sergio Montero, Michelle Morais de Sá e Silva, Alexandru Rusu, Titilayo Soremi, Jennifer Spence, Christopher Walker and Astrid Wood

Index

Comments

‘Policy diffusion, then policy transfer and now “policy circulation”. The movement of policy not only across countries but also across time, between policy sectors and through different arenas of governance is a defining feature of our times. This book captures the circulation – how policy is trafficked and transformed in the process of its movement across these dimensions. A 'tour de force', this book is essential reading for anyone wanting to understand how and why policy moves.’

– Diane Stone, Centenary Professor, University of Canberra, Australia

‘In Public Policy Circulation: Arenas, Agents and Actions Tom Baker and Chris Walker have gathered together an impressive set of authors, who surgically dissect the actors and arenas in which policy transfer occurs. In doing this, the collected work offers new insights into how policies circulate around the globe. Importantly, the collection is one of the first to focus on the role of south-to-south and south-to-north policy transfers. This alone, makes this text a required reading for anyone interested in the circulation of policies that are increasingly shaping the global policy fora.’

– David P. Dolowitz, University of Liverpool, UK