Hulme, R. & Hulme, M. Global Tansfer Of Social Policy

Transcript

  THE GLOBAL TRANSFER OF SOCIAL POLICY (2008) Hulme R. & Hulme, M Published   in Understanding Global Social Policy  . (Ed)  Yeates, N, Bristol, Poli! Press #BN $%8  8' $ $ Section headings OverviewKey conceptsIntroduction What is policy transfer? Policy Sociology: a global perspectiveTravelling and embedded policyPolicy communities and local policy settlementsvidence into policy: the political nature of decision!ma ing#a ing the $global% $local%: divergence within the &K 'onclusion Summary (uestions for discussionSuggested follow!up activities )to be completed*+urther reading lectronic resources,lossary of ey terms-eferences  Overview Social policies which feature similar language do not necessarily carry the same meaning or content in every conte.t/ Social scientists from a number of disciplines have developed concepts and metaphors in an attempt to characterise the international movement of policies/ This chapter contrasts two of those conceptual framewor s0 1policy transfer1 and 1travelling and embedded policy1/ Policy transfer helps to e.plain the use of nowledge from elsewhere in decision ma ing processes/ Travelling and embedded policy sheds light on the comple. relationships between supranational0 cross!national0 regional and sectoral influences on policyma ing/ .amples of education policy are used to illustrate the processes of global social 1   policy ma ing/ In doing so0 the chapter offers a particular focus on global policy agendas are mediated or negotiated by policy communities and networ s in producing 1local1 policy settlements/ e! Conce ts ,lobal social governance0 policy learning0 policy sociology0 epistemic community0 policy networ / Introd#ction 2 central component of global social policy formation involves the movement of ideas0 structures and practices/ 'hapter 3 addressed the institutional architecture of global social  policy and referred to a system of $emerging global governance% in which transnational corporations0 international coalitions of policy advocates or policy e.perts and a variety of other policy actors interact through global networ s/ This chapter addresses a different aspect of what 4eates in 'hapter 5 refers to as the trans!national processes of global social policy: the international movement of ideas and structures in policy ma ing/ The first two chapters have e.plored the means by which global networ s of actors and I6,Os are important in setting social policy agendas in the developed and the developing world/ This chapter e.amines the ways in which the ma ing of social policy is globalised/ In particular0 how the nowledge that underpins policy )often carried by trans!national organisations* is constructed and is e.pressed in diverse forms within national and sectoral conte.ts/There is nothing new about policy forms moving around the globe/ 2s 4eates observes in chapter 50 colonialism in the 57 th  century e.ported western forms of social and economic  policy around the globe/ The 38 th  century witnessed a tendency by developed western nations to $borrow% policy structures from one another0 sometimes over many years/ Phillips and Ochs)3889* outline the incremental and ultimately unsuccessful attempt of the ritish government to borrow the ,erman model of vocational education from the 5;<8%s to the mid 38 th  century/In recent years0 the process of ma ing social policy has become most visibly $global% in that certain agendas such as human rights0 public=private partnerships in welfare delivery and the $global nowledge economy% have $travelled% around the globe/ >epending on local political 2  circumstances0 the $transfer% of $generic% policy agendas such as these can either be a valuableinstrument or an inevitable e.ternal intervention for policy ma ers within the new $global governance/% &nli e other aspects of ,SP0 the conceptual literatures on the international movement of  policy reviewed here have primarily grown from 2nglo! 2merican models of policy analysis and reflect a $technicist% focus on $western% processes of government0 emphasising stability and continuity/ There is a need to $globalise% this policy literature to address the scope of global policy change/ 4et the narrower perspectives on transfer are still relevant to our  purpose/ We need both broad perspectives on the generic agendas promoted by I6,Os and a narrower focus on the processes of policy settlements )see fig 5*/ ,lobal social policy analysisis founded on notions of growing $interconnectedness% and in eeping with other aspects of globaliation0 it can be as illuminating to loo for evidence of these processes in your $bac garden% as it is to loo further afield/ 2s >eacon )388<* has observed in ,SP $the global is in the local and local is in the global%@ hence our e.amples of $traveling% policy highlight the wayin generic global policy agendas can be contested and mediated within relatively small geographical areas0 )the nations of the &K* as well as on a global stage/ Two approaches to global policy studies are outlined to illustrate these broader debates: one uses a $small lens% to focus on simpleAlinear transfers of ideas0 the other a broader lens on the  processes of mediation0 contestation and deliberation of global discourses: the notion of $travelling% and $embedded policy% )Bones and 2le.iadou0 3885@ Oga and Bones0 388C*/ oth  perspectives help us to grasp the different ways in which policy formation is said to have  become globalised/ The chapter attends to the continued agency of $local% policy actors in shaping global agendas0as well as the role of global actors in shaping local agendas/ In this way0 the political nature of the ma ing of social policy is emphasised/ The chapter draws on education policy to illustrate how policies that employ similar language0 and connect with common transnational agenda0  produce different settlements/ 3  $hat is o%ic! trans&er' 2 substantial literature on the international movement of ideas and practices in social policy has developed over the last fifteen years/ In this section we briefly outline the concepts of $policy transfer%0 $policy diffusion%0 $cross!national attraction%0 $policy borrowing% and policy $convergence% and we consider how epistemic communities )Daas0 5778* and advocacy coalitions )Sabatier0 577E* inform the development of policy learning/ Within the policy transfer literature various framewor s have developed which see to strengthen cross!national0 international and historical analysis of social policies )>olowit and#arsh0 3888@ >olowit et al  /0 3888@ vans and >avies0 5777@ Wolman and Page0 3883*/ >olowit et al  / )3888* offer a definition of policy transfer and the international movement of  policy as: 2 process in which nowledge about policies0 institutions and ideas developed in one time or place is used in the development of policies0 institutions etc/ in another time or  place )>olowit et al.,  3888: E*This framewor is simple and uses a narrow lens0 but it helps us to e.amine the srcins of ideas about policy0 who supplies this $policy nowledge% and the political and practical  purposes to which this nowledge is put . It is useful in e.plaining social policy formation at any level/   The literature on $diffusion% )#introm and Fegari 577;@* has a slightly broader focus on the international causes of policy $adoption% of institutional forms within welfare systems but again the focus is upon structures and programmes/ There has been a strong theme within the literature on policy transfer and diffusion on the influence of ideas and structures from the &S2 on policy development in the &K0 )>olowit et al 38880 Global Social Policy 6  0 388C*/ This wor has highlighted e.amples ranging from the $2mericanisation of ritish universities to the use of policies srcinating in the &S0 such as the 'hild Support 2gency and electronic tagging of offenders/ Transfer and diffusion here is seen to be driven by the close connections between &S and &K policy elites0 thin tan s such the Institute for conomic 2ffairs but also by the increasing lin ages between welfare organisations and local and national policy communities in both countries .  The literature on $lesson drawing% )-ose 5775* is very close to the transfer framewor and draws on a linear0 rational understanding of the policy process and offers a focus on the tendency of policy elites to loo for $lessons% in how to deliver policy outcomes from other 4