Policy Diffusion Research Articles

Policy Diffusion on New and Renewable Energy in Indonesia

Policy Diffusion on New and Renewable Energy in Indonesia

The impact of vertical and horizontal pressures on policy diffusion: evidence from APLS adoption in China

This study examines the diffusion of governmental self-regulation policy, specifically the Administrative Power List System (APLS) in China, which has received less focus than economic or social policies within horizontal and vertical pressure frameworks. By employing event history analysis and case studies, the research compares local government adoption behavior before and after the central intervention. The findings reveal that, in the absence of strong central directives, local governments are often reluctant to replicate neighboring policies, as they strive for distinctiveness in their innovations. However, once the central government issues mandates, local governments quickly adapt and implement practices observed elsewhere. The study also highlights significant vertical influences from provincial and county governments. During the exploration stage, top-down pressure from provincial governments enhances municipal adoption, although this influence is eventually surpassed by central mandates. Bottom-up learning from county-level pilot programs significantly improves adoption efficiency, especially when local governments face pressure for rapid implementation. This study contributes to the policy diffusion literature by analyzing the diffusion of governmental self-regulation policy and highlighting the mixed impacts of horizontal and vertical pressures on policy learning and adoption, with central intervention playing a crucial role.

Exploring the patterns of China's carbon neutrality policies

To achieve the ambitious carbon neutrality goal by 2060, the Chinese government has implemented a series of carbon neutrality policies. These policy documents are pivotal in facilitating the examination of policy substance, the scrutiny of policy evolution, and the dissection of the policy instruments involved. This study develops an analytical framework for assessing carbon neutrality through policy documents, applying text mining and network analysis to probe the intricacies of policy topics, interagency collaboration, and diffusion dynamics. This research aims to delineate and expound upon the strategic paradigms employed by the Chinese government in its quest for carbon neutrality. The findings reveal a constellation of eleven policy topics, with "green" and "low carbon" being key aspects of each. The policy collaboration network has a density of 0.593, and the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC)'s high average weighted degree of 14.6 highlights its crucial role in leading and coordinating these policies. In terms of diffusion dynamics, the green energy transition topic has a diffusion speed of 0.967 and a strength of 49, indicating its importance to the Chinese government. On a practical level, the findings offer policy-makers concrete, actionable recommendations to refine policy design and enhance implementation effectiveness. Theoretically, this study advances the scientific understanding of policy dynamics by proposing a novel analytical framework that integrates multiple dimensions of policy analysis, contributing to the methodological development of policy research.

Politico-Administrative Culture and Public Service Reform in Post-Independence Kazakhstan

Classical organizational management literature draws clear parallels between organizational culture and climate and effective use of power and influence as key to successful policy implementation of reforms in public sector organizations. On the other hand, the public policy literature, in particular, policy transfer as a strand within policy studies, emphasizes the role of the national context, more specifically, ‘facilitators’ and ‘constraints’ of ‘‘politico-administrative culture” within the national context, as crucial to understanding processes of transfer, convergence, and diffusion of public policy. There is a plethora of studies by Western scholars of public management who have successfully utilized these theoretical underpinnings to study the effectiveness of public service reforms in mature policy environments such as the UK, the US, Australia, New Zealand, and others. However, the public policy and comparative public management literature only offers a limited number of case studies from developing, middle-/upper-middle countries, which rely on concepts of organizational management in addition to narratives on the impact of policy learning from global doctrines, such as Weberianism, New Public Management (NPM), and New Public Governance (NPG), and national politics, on the implementation of administrative reforms in those contexts. Kazakhstan, as a resource-affluent post-Soviet country and a bastion of modernization and ‘open government’ in Central Asia or the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in the post-Soviet era is a case in point. Based on ethnographic research consisting of interviews with elite academics, civil servants, and think-tank activists, as well as reviews of OECD and government strategy reports in Astana, the findings point to a potential abatement of the impact of context constraints such as large power distance and collectivist behavior by context facilitators such as those surrounding the use of ‘trilingualism’ and public diplomacy towards reforms in Kazakhstan particularly in recent years.

An Inventory of Proposed and Enacted Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Policies at the State, Local, and Tribal Levels in the United States, 2014‒2023.

Objectives. To inventory and describe trends in proposal and enactment of US sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) policies at state, local, and Tribal levels, 2014-2023. Methods. We systematically searched 6 policy databases in 2021 (updated May 2023) using SSB-related search terms, identifying additional policies through snowball and online searches and a survey of food-policy experts. We reviewed 10 821 policies for inclusion and quantitatively coded included policies. Results. The inventory included 400 (321 unique [i.e., excluding companion]) policies meeting criteria: 335 (256 unique) state-, 63 local-, and 2 Tribal-level policies. From 2014 to 2023, 11% of unique state-, 92% of local-, and 100% of Tribal-level proposed policies were enacted. Across jurisdictions, the most frequently proposed policies related to excise taxes, restaurant children's meals, nutrition standards, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, while the largest proportions of enacted policies related to restaurant children's meals, nutrition standards, education, and procurement. More policies were proposed and enacted in California and New York than other states, and in 2017 (proposed) and 2016 (enacted). Conclusions. This comprehensive inventory of US SSB policies provides information to inform future SSB policy development and diffusion. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print October 17, 2024:e1-e10. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2024.307855).

(Non-)terrestrial and (Non-)local pathways of behavioral policy diffusion in European cities’ climate action plans: Contextual, cultural, and leadership framing

This study investigates the spread of innovative behavioral (green nudging) policies within city-level Climate Action Plans (CAPs) across the European Union, focusing on how these innovations diffuse and the factors influencing their adoption. Using textual analysis with a dataset consisting of CAPs from 40 cities across Europe, we categorized various green nudging innovations and then tracked their origins and uptake. Then, we employed fsQCA (Fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis) to identify the key factors driving diffusion. The findings reveal that while certain innovations, particularly in the building and transportation sectors, have achieved widespread adoption, other initiatives like community co-creation and urban parks have seen lower diffusion. Local terrestrial factors, especially sectoral carbon emissions, are significant drivers, with cities facing higher emissions more likely to adopt these policies. Interestingly, local emissions levels and strong climate leadership emerge as more critical determinants than economic status or climate similarities. The study identifies two primary diffusion pathways—Cultural Leadership for Emission Reduction and Local Adaptive Synergy—demonstrating the diverse strategies cities employ based on their unique contexts. This research highlights the importance of expanding green nudging measures in CAPs beyond technological and infrastructure domains to promote low-carbon behaviors comprehensively.

Global policy diffusion as a socially constructed process: Insights from UNESCO Creative Cities Network’s shift towards the Global South

This study examines the diffusion of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, focusing on the dynamics of four core diffusion mechanisms and reinterpreting them within a multi-agent framework. This approach enhances understanding of policy diffusion as a socially constructed process, emphasizing the heterogeneous pathways that various agents navigate within a single mechanism. Such variances are vital for grasping the complexities of why policies diffuse or fail, aspects that often escape traditional quantitative methods. In tracing the UNESCO Creative Cities Network’s diffusion from the Global North to South, we highlight UNESCO’s pivotal role in steering diffusion to reflect its evolving priorities; how cities appropriate the UNESCO Creative Cities Network to legitimize their policy goals and actions; the differing capabilities of cities from the Global North and Global South in negotiating and adopting such a global policy; and the tendency of global policies to diffuse among countries that are culturally proximate, as demonstrated by cultural distance index.

Try a Little Tendering: Institutional, Political, and Financial Influence on Local Contracting in Norway

ABSTRACT The motivations behind local government contracting are an area of theoretical and empirical interest that can shed light on the forces shaping decision-making in public organizations. This paper examined the role of policy diffusion, political factors, and fiscal stress for local contracting. We used local government data from Norway in the period 2004–2016 containing information on whether the municipal administration used competition in 15 service areas during the last election period. The results indicate that policy diffusion played a significant role in competitive tendering for social services and that municipalities governed by liberal-conservative parties had a higher use of tendering.

The diffusion of American fair housing law and policy

The diffusion of American fair housing law and policy

From Policy Advisors to Transfer Agents: Understanding the Role of Policy Advisors in the Circulation of Good Governance Principles in the Global South

By the moment policy advisory system (PAS) gains field as a scientific object in public policy; different studies on the subject explore its importance in political systems. They reveal that PAS provides a significant support to public policy decision for central and local governments, thereby highlighting its impact in decision and policy-making process within these systems. While agreeing with this evidence, the present paper focuses on the role of Policy Advice Actors (PAA) in the diffusion and transfer of good governance principles at the international level. The aim of this paper is therefore to contribute to the debate on the multiple facets of policy advisory system in Africa by analyzing the dynamics of policy advisors in policy decision. It eventually tries to link PAS to policy diffusion and highlights how the PAS is being used by these actors to crystallize their knowledge and ideas into different political systems. The present paper is a qualitative analysis based on empirical evidence and the existing literature on the issue in Africa and particularly in Cameroon. Henceforth, it is argued that policy transfer especially diffusion is an important mechanism of PAS in the global south, of course as external policy advice is concerned, international organizations that constitute the main actors of this system are engaged into providing global solution for southern countries rather than policy innovation. Despite this evidence these actors may somehow be confronted to different degrees of complexity into the local context.

To sandbox or not to sandbox? Diverging strategies of regulatory responses to FinTech

AbstractA regulatory sandbox is an emerging tool for addressing the challenges posed by the FinTech industry, but countries have embraced it to varying degrees. There is a need to systematically examine the question: Which factors explain the diverging trajectories in countries' decision to use (or not use) this instrument? This paper examines the adoption of regulatory sandboxes for FinTech in the Baltic states, where we can observe markedly divergent trajectories. Estonia has not exploited the possibilities of this instrument, while Lithuania and Latvia adopted a regulatory sandbox in 2018 and 2021, respectively. We analyze the political, legal, administrative, and economic factors affecting the adoption (or non‐adoption) of regulatory sandboxes for FinTech. We find that the decision to adopt a regulatory sandbox for FinTech is primarily influenced by the efforts of policy entrepreneurs, mechanisms of policy diffusion, and the policy actors' perceptions of legal constraints and available regulatory capacities.

Internal tension or external pressure? Study on the influencing factors of the diffusion of education policies for older adults in China – Based on the analysis of China’s provincial panel data from 2016 to 2023

ABSTRACT The development of education for older adults through policy measures has become an important means for governments to actively cope with population aging. Taking the number of education policies for older adults adopted in 31 provinces of China from 2016 to 2023 as an example, this study empirically analyzes the factors influencing the diffusion of education policies from dimensions of internal tension and external pressure. The results showed that the level of economic development, natural population growth rate, older adults dependency ratio, child dependency ratio, illiterate population over 15 years old, number of local libraries inside the province and the adoption of education policies for older adults in adjacent provinces significantly affected the adoption of education policies for older adults in each province. After the introduction of regional variables, it is found that there are significant differences in the adoption of education policies for older adults by provincial governments in different regions of China. The policy responsiveness of eastern provinces is the best, followed by the central, and the western is the worst. The above results indicate that provincial governments in China are not only affected by the supply level of education services for older adults and their service demand within the province, but also affected by the adoption behavior of other provinces when making decisions, which is the result of rational thinking and competitive pressure. The above results provide China’s experience for the diffusion and implementation of education policies for older adults in a wider range.

The Diffusion of Exclusion: Medieval Expulsions of Jews

What social processes guide the spread of ethnic or racial exclusion? I investigate the diffusion of medieval expulsions of Jews among over 500 polities in the western Holy Roman Empire, 1385–1520 CE. For medieval governors, religious and material concerns were strong rationales against expulsion. Yet expulsions increase markedly in the 15th century. Did an expulsion by one government affect another government’s choices about expulsion? I appraise three common theories of policy diffusion: learning, social reinterpretation, and social structural and resource constraints. Statistical models provide evidence only for the latter two. While theological changes gave expulsion fresh political value, the adoption of expulsion followed political and economic incentives that were embedded in inter-city relationships of power and dependency. The results indicate that social influence, especially spatial proximity, cannot be assumed to accelerate ethnoracial extremism.

State aid for broadband network deployment: National and subnational governance mechanisms, 2003–2023

This paper examines the governance models of State aid measures for broadband network deployment in European Union Member States. The research is based on 199 decision letters collected from the European Commission's competition cases database, published between 2003 and 2023. Deploying a theory-driven content analysis approach, the analysis reveals and categorises a variety of governance models. These models vary regarding the authority responsible for the decision-making and, in the case of national schemes, the authority responsible for the implementation, including centralised and decentralised arrangements. Different legacies and institutional set-ups explain the governance models, including the typology of state structures, the constitutional powers, the traditions of participation in the telecommunication sector, policy diffusion and regional development. There are several possible pathways to a gradual transition from one model to another. The design of flexible national schemes, which offer subnational authorities the option to implement them in their regions or to rely on central management agencies for specific tasks adapted to their interests, resources and capacities, could be the optimal solution to prevent the launch of ad hoc measures by subnational authorities and to adapt to different institutional arrangements.

Understanding the adoption of military equipment by local law enforcement agencies in the United States

AbstractObjectiveThis article examines the diffusion of paramilitary police units across the United States to consider the computational turn in social science.MethodsThe process of police diffusion is modeled by comparing traditional predictive models with agent‐based modeling (ABM) under constant and flexible binding conditions. The data are drawn from the Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies 2000, 2004 and the United States Cities Database.ResultsABM was not superior to traditional predictive models when it came to predicting policy diffusion and that flexible binding provides superior predictive capabilities over constant binding.ConclusionsPublic policy scholars should exercise caution in adopting computational methods as they may not offer advantages over traditional predicative analysis. Policy diffusion of police militarization is not driven by geographical proximity but may reflect hierarchical influences in the form of federal policy or the influence of far‐flung organizations perceived to be similar. This may cause inappropriate policies and practices to be adopted.

Lost in transfer – tracing policy diffusion and norm‐shaping in Tanzania‐China relations

Lost in transfer – tracing policy diffusion and norm‐shaping in Tanzania‐China relations

The soft channels of policy diffusion: Insights from local climate change adaptation policy

AbstractDiffusion has become both an important concept for studying policy spread and a popular governance approach, particularly where direct coercion is unavailable or undesirable. However, the prevailing mechanism‐centered concept is difficult to measure and poorly captures the governance potential of policy diffusion. To address these issues, this article presents a new channel‐centered framework that distinguishes between six soft policy diffusion channels: autonomous, collaborative, exemplary, persuasive, organized, and funded diffusion. The framework is probed by studying local climate change adaptation policy using original survey data collected from the administrations of 190 municipalities located in the central German state of Hessen. The regression results indicate that the local institutionalization of adaptation in Hessen is associated with several interventions by higher levels of government, including the provision of a policy model, a municipal climate network, and grant programs. However, the density of concrete adaptation measures is associated with noninstitutionalized exchanges between municipalities. External grants are also found to be more effective in institutionalizing adaptation in larger municipalities. These results demonstrate the usefulness of the framework for distinguishing and comparing different diffusion channels and suggest that different types of interventions may be required to effectively support adaptation policy development at the local level.

Policy Learning and the Diffusion of Autonomous Vehicle Policy in the American States

This study examines the multifaceted mechanisms driving the adoption of autonomous vehicle (AV) policy in the United States. Drawing from diffusion and network governance theories, it explores the intricate interplay between state governments, private industry, and shared mobility services in shaping AV policies. Several states like California, Nevada, and Texas have emerged as frontrunners in AV testing and innovation. However, policymakers grapple with unique challenges related to AV technology, including safety, liability, and infrastructure enhancement, necessitating innovative policy solutions. As AVs signify a transformative shift in transportation, state governments assume a pivotal role in policy innovation and experimentation. Using a blend of dyadic quantitative analysis and qualitative interviews, this study examines to what extent policy learning predominantly drives AV policy adoption. In doing so, we explore specific diffusion mechanisms, including policy learning and competitive dynamics, to understand how they shape the early adoption of AV policies across states. We find substantial evidence for interstate learning facilitated by intergovernmental organizations and the private sector.

Integration Policy Networks and the Potential for Local Integration Policy Diffusion in European Small- and Medium-Sized Towns and Rural Areas: A Comparative Analysis

This article aims to open a debate about the diffusion of local integration policies in European small- and medium-sized towns and rural areas (SMsTRAs), shedding light on local policymakers’ relational environment and key features of policy networks that influence policy diffusion. Elaborating on data collected through 343 interviews across 34 SMsTRAs, analysed through social network analysis and qualitative content analysis, it concludes that the relational environment in SMsTRAs is unfavourable for integration policy diffusion due to specific characteristics of integration policy networks and the growing politicisation of local integration policymaking. Nonetheless, relevant variation is identified across different types of SMsTRAs.

How Can Policy Diffusion of Intergovernmental Public Health Emergency Cooperation Be Realized? Evidence from China

The complexity of interregional crises challenges global emergency management, highlighting the need for enhanced intergovernmental emergency cooperation. The article focuses on the policy diffusion of intergovernmental public health emergency cooperation (IPHEC) among local governments, proposing an analytical framework that includes internal organizational characteristics, an external organizational environment, and interorganizational relationships. Using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), it finds four pathways influencing the policy diffusion of IPHEC: economic-pressure response, economic-crisis driven, resource-pressure driven, and resource-crisis-trust coordinated. Factors including economic development level, resource supply level, administrative pressure, crisis situation, and trust basis exhibit different operational logics within these four pathways.