Literature lecture 3

Question 1

What is policy transfer?

Answer 1

The process of using knowledge about policies, administrative arrangements, and institutions from one context to inform decisions and developments in another. This can be bogh voluntarily (choices of plolitical actors), and coercively (government/institution pushes another to adopt policy)

Question 2

How has policy tranfer evolved?

Answer 2

It started as part of studying how politics and policies vary between places, with early research looking at how ideas spread. Later, the focus changed to figuring out what gets transferred and how.

Question 3

what are the six main categories of actors involved in policy transfer

Answer 3

• elected officials
• political parties
• bureaucrats/civil servants
• pressure groups
• entrepreneurs/experts: promote lessons, build networks that sever as sources for new ideas.
• supra-national institutions: facilitate exchange between countries. encourage comparisons among member states. focus mainly on voluntary transfer.

Question 4

what are some motivations behind voluntary policy transfer?

Answer 4

dissatisfaction with existing policies, perceived policy failures, election cycles, and undertainty about the causes or effects of previous decisions.

Question 5

what are the three categories of policy transfer based on motivations?

Answer 5

• voluntary transfer: catalyst is dissatisfaction. this can arise from policy failure, elections. so uncertainty on previous decisions can promt actors to seek policies from elsewhere.
• direct coercive transfer: when one government forces another to adopt a policy (rare).
• indirect coercive transfer: can result from externalities such as interdependence or technological advancements, push governments to adopt similar policies. economic pressure, global economic integration and perception of falling behind neigbors can idirectly influence policy transfer.

Question 6

What objects of transfer are identified in policy transfer?

Answer 6

policy goals, structure, and content; policy instruments or administrative techniques; institutions; ideology; ideas, attitudes, and concepts; and negative lessons

Question 7

what are some constraints that affect the feasibility and success of policy transfer?

Answer 7

complexity of the policy program, past policies shaping transfer possibilities, institutional and structural constraints, ideological factors, and economic and technological considerations.

Question 8

What is emphasized regarding the role of subjective perception in policy transfer?

Answer 8

Policy making is affected by personal views and decisions, so it’s important to understand how these views impact the transfer of policies.

Question 9

what is criticized about the literature on policy transfer?

Answer 9

It is often too positive and often relies too much on facts and ignores how people see problems and solutions, so we need to study this aspect more.

Question 10

what are some examples of supra-national organizations involved in policy transfer?

Answer 10

European community, OECD, World Bank, and United Nations agencies.

Question 11

What is suggested about the production and use of best practices in policymaking processes?

Answer 11

little is known about how best practices are actually produced and used, raising questions about their effectiveness in influencing policy change and improving spatial planning outcomes.

Question 12

what challenges the assumption of the universitality and effectiveness of best practices in spatial planning?

Answer 12

significant diversity among European member states in governance, administrative cultures, and professional capacities, which calls into question the transferability of best practices, especially between dissimilar countries.

Question 13

What factors influence the complexity of policy processes?

Answer 13

Politicians see policy transfer as an easy fix, wanting to avoid the time and money needed for original planning. But it’s tough to share all the details about what makes a policy work

Question 14

What components of best practices are more/less easily transferable?

Answer 14

Methods and techniques are more easily transferable, while ideas and principles are less so due to their contextual nature

Question 15

How can the process of policy transfer be initiated, and which approach is often more effective?

Answer 15

Policy transfer can be initiated either top-down by promoters or bottom-up by recipients, with the latter often being more effective.

Question 16

What critiques are raised regarding the identification of best practices?

Answer 16

Issues such as informal polling, self-referential nature of perceived successes, and obscuring of challenges and failures encountered in implementing practices.

Question 17

What are some findings regarding the practical utility of best practices at the national level?

Answer 17

While informal contacts with peers are considered the most useful sources of information, the impact of international examples on decision-making is low, with skepticism among practitioners about their relevance and effectiveness.

Question 18

What challenges do spatial planning activities in newer EU member states face?

Answer 18

Challenges include lower levels of trust in government, weaker planning institutions, and substantial differences in political, administrative, and planning cultures compared to western Europe.

Question 19

What recommendations are proposed regarding the use of best practices in policies and programs?

Answer 19

Policymakers should consider examples of practice that can be adapted to local contexts, and more detailed research is needed to understand the transferability of spatial planning methods and processes.

Question 20

What would be beneficial for advancing spatial planning research and policy transfer efforts?

Answer 20

We need to look more closely at how best practices are used in different places, and find out what basic rules apply to all planning systems.

Question 21

What can lessons drawn from other countries look like?

Answer 21

Direct copying, synhtesis, and hybridization. lessons can be drawn from a countries past, but also from other political systems within the same country or from countries that have similar characteristics or challenges.

Question 22

what can you say about the contstraint of complexity for policy transfer

Answer 22

complex policies are harder to transfer.

Question 23

The OECD categorizes components of best practices on visbility and transferability. can you name it?

Answer 23

gebruik de afbeelding in de notes

Question 24

what are limitations to transferability of best practices?

Answer 24

Sometimes, just reading about successful projects or policies might not give us all the details we need to really understand why they work.