Agents, Coercive Learning, and Social Protection Policy Diffusion in Africa

This paper makes theoretical, empirical, and methodological contributions to the study of social policy diffusion, drawing on the case of social protection in Africa, and Zambia in particular. We examine a range of tactics deployed by transnational agencies (TAs) to encourage the adoption of cash transfers by African governments, at the intersection between learning and coercion, which we term ‘coercive learning’, to draw attention to the important role played by TA-commissioned policy drafting, evidence generation, advocacy, and capacity-building activities. Next, we argue for making individual agents central in the analysis of policy diffusion, because of their ability to reflect, learn, and interpret policy ideas. We substantiate this claim theoretically by drawing on practice theories, and empirically by telling the story of social protection policy diffusion in Zambia through three individual agents. This is complemented by two instances of self-reflexivity in which the authors draw on their personal engagements in the policy process in Zambia, to refine our conclusions about the interplay of structure and agency.

Policy Diffusion of Performance Funding Equity Metrics: Traditional Neighbor and Dyadic Survival Analyses

While previous research on higher education policy diffusion often conceptualizes diffusion as occuring across neighboring governments, we conceptualize policy diffusion as also occuring across pairs of governments (dyads) regardless of geographic proximity. We apply both conceptualizations and use survival analysis techniques to examine factors associated with state adoption of performance funding equity metrics. Results show that the proportion of neighbors with equity metrics is unrelated to the likelihood of adopting a metric for either the 2- or 4-year sector, suggesting no evidence of policy diffusion across borders. The directed dyad analysis reveals that states are less likely to adopt a 4-year metric when the other state in the pair already operates a 4-year metric, indicating that states look beyond neighbors in policy avoidance behaviors. Internal state factors such as higher levels of legislative professionalism and greater enrollment of underrepresented minority and low-income students increase the likelihood of policy adoption. A state is less likely to imitate the adoption of 2-year equity metrics in another state when the pair show greater differences in legislative professionalism, minority and low-income student enrollment, income per capita, and income inequality. Our research highlights the utility of quantitatively modeling policy diffusion across governmental units that are distantly located, especially for higher education policy components that are nationally visible.

Using Implementation Science to Inform and Evaluate Health Policy

Public health policies can be a tool for the promotion and protection of older adult’s well-being but how can we ensure that policies will be effective and applied as intended? This presentation will discuss how implementation science can be used to both inform and evaluate health policies. Scientific evidence developed by applying dissemination and implementation frameworks can be used to inform policy makers as they develop legislation. When used to evaluate policy, D&I frameworks can be applied to examine policy diffusion, how a state, community, or individual organization chooses to carry out the policy, and the impact that policy has on the intended population. D&I frameworks are an effective way to measure the difference between policy intent and what actually happens when a policy is implemented. Examples of how D&I frameworks have been used to inform and evaluate policy will be shared.

Unraveled Practices of Participatory Budgeting in European Democracies

The goal of the final chapter was to summarize lessons about the worst and best practices, causes, and effects of (successful or unsuccessful) participatory budgeting, delivered by the country case studies included in this book. The information collected serves to check to what extent participatory budgeting as practiced in the countries involved presents a real attempt to change municipal budgets toward addressing the needs of marginalized groups and to improve decision-making based on local democracy and participation, or whether these processes as such are to be judged to be more important than any output and outcomes. All in all, the practices of PB as they evolved in European countries out of the innovative original as developed in Porto Alegre in the 1990s can be seen neither as a process of policy diffusion nor as a process of policy mimesis. The terminology of participatory budgeting remained, but the goals and tools to achieve the goals resulted only in marginal changes in the status quo in municipalities in European countries practicing participatory budgeting, instead of resulting in radical changes to increase spending in favor of marginalized groups. Participatory budgeting in selected European countries is far away from the level of “best practice” in which local democracy and participation are promoted. However, it is also not possible to conclude that all experiences are just “trivial pursuits”.

Critical Summary and Concluding Remarks

This chapter provides a summary and a systematic synopsis of the theoretical approaches and the empirical results. It gives a comparative overview over the temporal and spatial pattern of the diffusion process and critically reflects the theoretical approaches and the applied methods. A basic insight of this comparative conclusion is that the macro-quantitative approach of network diffusion event history analysis has great benefits for global studies on social policy diffusion, but in-depth case studies still remain important for revealing the diffusion mechanisms. Future research should more systematically combine both perspectives.

Networks of Global Policy Diffusion: The Introduction of Compulsory Education

Compulsory education is closely related to the reproduction and change of a country’s culture. As we know from international comparative cultural research, however, there are different pathways into modernity, and so the particular role of education for a nation-state’s cultural basis might differ as well. At the same time, different relations between countries, such as cultural similarity or trade, can function as channels of diffusion of welfare policies. Our empirical analysis tests which dimensions of global networks structure the diffusion of introduction of compulsory education. We find a positive effect of exposure to other countries in a network of cultural similarity. Policy diffusion does not proceed via economic ties and colonial histories, but does through spatial proximity.

Sustainable development and climate change mitigation at the rural municipal level in Austria: Tracing policy diffusion, process dynamics and political change

It is widely acknowledged that municipalities play an important role in the transition towards sustainable development and climate change mitigation. But how well do they really meet these expectations? Focusing on the diffusion of pertinent policies in local, rural Austria, we analyse whether the policy diffusion has induced procedural, political and programmatic effects and, if so, how it was accomplished. The results fall short of expectations.Although it is widely acknowledged that municipalities play an important role in the transition towards sustainable development and climate change mitigation, there is a notable lack of studies focusing on the diffusion of pertinent policies at the local level. This paper analyses the diffusion of sustainable development and climate change mitigation policies in rural Austrian municipalities. We scrutinise the policy diffusion rates and patterns. In doing so, we ask whether policy diffusion has induced procedural, political and programmatic effects within the rural government context and, if so, how these changes were accomplished. The results show that the lack of political commitment, political incoherency and insufficient support are major barriers impeding diffusion and implementation. Insufficient programmatic effects are explained by the fact that only “easier” measures have so far been implemented. These “easy” measures stop short of profoundly tackling structural problems or challenging current practices. In contrast to the high expectations regarding the role of municipalities in transitioning towards sustainability and climate-friendly practices, municipalities appear not to have the competencies nor the capacities to implement far-reaching, system-changing measures on their own.