An analytical framework for policy transfer in the EU context

Abstract

Most scholars treat policy transfer as either a dependent or an independent variable without considering discursive components of the policy process and the role of subjective definitions of policy success or failure. This study allows more space for subjective definitions and the perceptions of actors involved in the policy transfer process, and by incorporating an element of social constructivism to the analysis of policy transfer in the European Union (EU) context, it demonstrates how subjective definitions affect policy transfer outcomes and how ‘transfer success’ is subject to competing interpretations. The analytical framework is tested through empirical data from a case study investigation of an EU environmental policy's transfer in Turkey.