When Crime Policies Travel: Cross-National Policy Transfer in Crime Control

Researching cross-national policy mobilities in crime control

Criminology & Criminal Justice ◽

10.1177/1748895819864627 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 174889581986462 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Trevor Jones ◽

Jarrett Blaustein ◽

Tim Newburn

Keyword(s):

Political Science ◽

Empirical Research ◽

Crime Control ◽

National Policy ◽

Human Geography ◽

Policy Transfer ◽

Minor Importance ◽

Methodological Approaches ◽

Policy Mobilities ◽

Cross National

The empirical study of ‘policy transfer’ and related topics remains a relatively rare enterprise in criminology. Comparative studies of crime control policy tend to focus on broader structural explanations on the one hand, or more specific socio-cultural analyses on the other. By contrast, scholars from other disciplinary traditions – including political science, public administration, comparative social policy and human geography – have developed a vibrant body of empirical research into the dynamics and impacts of cross-jurisdictional flows of policy ideas, programmes and practices. This research provides helpful methodological pointers to criminologists interested in carrying out such work within the field of crime control. This article argues that the relative lack of empirical research on cross-national crime policy movement arises from two main factors: first, a generalised sense that the topic is of rather minor importance and second, a lack of methodological clarity about how such research might proceed. Such methodological barriers have arguably been further strengthened by major critiques of the political science frameworks of ‘policy transfer’ that have been influential in the field. We view cross-national policy movement as an important subject for empirical criminological inquiry, and consider extant methodological approaches and potential future directions, drawing in particular on wider work within political science and human geography. There is significant potential for criminologists to learn from, and contribute to, the methodological approaches deployed by researchers from other disciplines and thus enhance knowledge about the concept of policy mobilities.

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Cross-National Policy Transfer and Learning in Regional and Urban Policy

Regions Magazine ◽

10.1080/13673882.2014.11431615 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 296 (1) ◽

pp. 12-13

Author(s):

Ida Musialkowska ◽

Marcin Dąbrowski ◽

Laura Polverari

Keyword(s):

Urban Policy ◽

National Policy ◽

Policy Transfer ◽

Cross National

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Considerations of the Obstacles and Opportunities to Formalizing Cross-National Policy Transfer to the United States: A Case Study of the Transfer of Urban Environmental and Planning Policies from Germany

Environment and Planning C Government and Policy ◽

10.1068/c0865j ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 27 (4) ◽

pp. 684-697 ◽

Cited By ~ 25

Author(s):

David P Dolowitz ◽

Dale Medearis

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

National Policy ◽

The United States ◽

Policy Transfer ◽

Adoption Process ◽

Policy Makers ◽

The Us ◽

Cross National ◽

Planning Policies

Not enough has been written about the import, adaptation, and application of urban environmental and planning policies from abroad into the United States. Even less has been written about the voluntary cross-national transfer and application of environmental policies by American subnational actors and institutions. It is our intent to begin redressing this by discussing the transfer of urban environmental and planning policies from Germany to the United States during the early part of the 21st century. This discussion is informed by data drawn from governmental reports and planning statements and over thirty-five interviews with US urban environmental and planning practitioners operating in Germany and the United States. What we discover is that, unlike more rational models of policy transfer, the voluntary importation of environmental and planning policies into the US is seldom a problem-focused, goal-oriented process. Rather, what we find is that a better depiction of the transfer and adoption process is of a relatively anarchic situation. This appears to occur due to a range of institutional and cultural filters that predispose American policy makers against gathering (and using) information and experiences from abroad. We find that this filtering process tends to encourage policy makers to discount (or reject outright) the usefulness of overseas models and that, when they do engage in this process, any information gathered appears to be based less upon well-researched and analyzed data than embedded ‘tacit’ knowledge.

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Cross-National Policy Networks and the State: EU Social Policy Transfer to Poland and Hungary

European Journal of International Relations ◽

10.1177/1354066108092309 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 14 (3) ◽

pp. 455-487 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Beate Sissenich

Keyword(s):

Social Policy ◽

National Policy ◽

Policy Networks ◽

Policy Transfer ◽

The State ◽

Cross National

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EVALUATING THE CROSS-NATIONAL TRANSFERABILITY OF POLICIES: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship ◽

10.1142/s1084946714500228 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 19 (04) ◽

pp. 1450022 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

COLIN C. WILLIAMS ◽

ROSITSA DZHEKOVA

Keyword(s):

Goodness Of Fit ◽

National Policy ◽

Policy Transfer ◽

Evaluation Framework ◽

Policy Initiative ◽

Transfer Policy ◽

Specific Policy ◽

Practical Evaluation ◽

Policy Measures ◽

Cross National

When seeking to harness entrepreneurship and enterprise culture, governments often seek to transfer policy measures successful in another country to their own. Until now however, governments have often lacked a practical evaluation framework for selecting policy measures and then appraising the feasibility and transferability of such measures. The aim of this paper is to fill that gap. Reviewing the literature on cross-national policy transfer, this paper provides a pragmatic evaluation framework for selecting policy measures and appraising their feasibility and transferability from one country to another. This details how successful policy transfer and cross-national policy learning must be informed by prospective policy analysis and testing the features of the specific policy initiative against the specifics of the national context and circumstances, and then establishes the criteria and processes through which potential policy adopters can identify promising policies used elsewhere to tackle similar problems in their own country and assess their 'goodness of fit' prior to transfer to national realities.

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