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The politics of policy diffusion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2026

Fabrizio Gilardi Open the ORCID record for Fabrizio Gilardi [Opens in a new window]  and
Fabio Wasserfallen
Fabrizio Gilardi*
Affiliation:
University of Zurich, Switzerland
Fabio Wasserfallen
Affiliation:
University of Salzburg, Austria
*
Address for correspondence: Fabrizio Gilardi, Department of Political Science, University of Zurich, Affolternstrasse 56, 8050 Zürich, Switzerland. Email: gilardi@ipz.uzh.ch
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Abstract

This article discusses the recent literature on policy diffusion and puts forward a new articulation of its political dimensions. Policy diffusion means that policies in one unit (country, state, city, etc.) are influenced by the policies of other units. The diffusion literature conceptualises these interdependencies with four mechanisms: learning, competition, coercion and emulation. The article identifies a model of diffusion that is dominant in the diffusion literature. According to this model, policies spread because decision makers evaluate the policy implications of the actions of other units. It is argued that the role of politics remains in the background in this model, and the article shows how going beyond a narrow focus on policy adoptions helps us to consider the politics of policy diffusion more explicitly.

Keywords

policy diffusionpolicy transferpolicy learning

Information

Type
Research Notes
Information
European Journal of Political Research , Volume 58 , Issue 4 , November 2019 , pp. 1245 - 1256
Copyright
Copyright © 2019 European Consortium for Political Research

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