3 Transnational Policy Paradigm Change and Confl ict in the Harmonization of Vehicle Safety and Accounting Standards

Abstract

What impact does transnationalism have on policy paradigm change? This paper focuses on three aspects of policy paradigm change that have become more prominent as transnationalism has become more extensive. These are the increased impact of conflicts between national policy paradigms; the greater importance of transnational policy networks; and changes in the relationship between the ideational qualities of a policy paradigm and more material factors with which these ideas interact. The study of policy paradigms has evolved not just by applying a fixed conception of what a paradigm is to an increasing variety of cases and policy developments such as transnationalism, but also by continually re-examining and reworking the concept of a policy paradigm itself. The three aspects of transnational policy paradigm change that this paper examines also suggest a need to further rework the concept of a policy paradigm. The paper assesses the significance of these practical and conceptual changes by examining two cases of transnational policy paradigms: vehicle safety standards and accounting standards. In both cases harmonization has involved policy paradigm clashes that relate to differences in US and EU regulatory traditions—but with very different outcomes. In the case of accounting a US-oriented paradigm that incorporates important international elements is becoming dominant globally while in the case of vehicle safety the European-oriented paradigm with certain international elements is winning out. Re-conceptualizing policy paradigm change in a globalizing environment