LIST OF PANELS

Policy Process is related to the “interactions that occur over time between public policies and surrounding actors, events, contexts, and outcomes” (Weible 2018, 2). In the 21st century, policymaking processes have increasingly become transnational. Regardless of this comprehensive definition, mainstream theories of the process have treated domestic policy change in isolation as if developments in other countries, other sectors, or at the global level are of little relevance for domestic policy processes. A growing community of scholars has been dedicated to conceptual developments that address the transnational in policymaking, such as studies on policy transfer, global policy and transnational administration (Stone, Moloney, 2019), international public policies (Petiteville, Smith 2006) and europeanization (Radaelli, 2008). 

The transnational Policy Process refers to “the transnational interactions that occur over time between public policies and the surrounding agents, events, contexts and outcomes” (Morais de Sá e Silva, Porto de Oliveira, 2023). Investigations of the global/local nexus and, more broadly, the relational methods of inquiry are perhaps best exemplified in studies that pay close attention to the processes of internationalization of domestic best practices, the localization of global policies, the development of bottom-up civil society led policy instruments, the coordination of national responses to crises, the evaluation of peacekeeping operations, and goal-setting global agendas. Domestic policies can deeply involve transnational dynamics, such as ministries seeking for technical assistance from the OECD or international private consultancies serving as advisors to governments. These are only a few of the examples of public policy processes involving a transnational dimension. 

The Panel seeks to advance scholarship on the transnational policy process, both drawing on and further advancing the policy transfer literature and global public policies literatures. We expect to provide answers to questions such as: How can the transnational policy process be further theorized? What concepts are useful in analyzing transnational dimensions in policy making? What are the conceptual challenges in capturing multilevel, multinational, multi-agent processes? Which methodological approaches can be applied to assess policy processes beyond the nation state? What empirical evidence can be used in such studies? Does the transnational policy process vary across policy subsystems and across space?

References:

Petiteville, Franck; Andy Smith. “Analyser les politiques publiques internationales”. Revue française de science politique 56, nº 3 (2006): 357.

Morais De Sá e Silva, Michelle; Porto de Oliveira, Osmany. Incorporating Time into Policy Transfer Studies: A Comparative Analysis of the Transnational Policy Process of Conditional Cash Transfers and Participatory Budgeting. Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice, v. 25, n. 4, p. 418–438, 4. 2023. 

Radaelli, C. M. Europeanization, Policy Learning, and New Modes of Governance. Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice, v. 10, n. 3, p. 239–254, 2008. 

Stone, Diane L.; Moloney, Kim. The Oxford Handbook of Global Policy and Transnational Administration. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019. 

Weible, Christopher. “Introduction: The Scope and Focus of Policy Process Research and Theory.” In Theories of the Policy Process, edited by Christopher Weible and Paul Sabatier, 4th ed., 1–13. New York, USA: Routledge, 2018.

Transnational Policy Process refers to the transnational “interactions that occur over time between public policies and the surrounding agents, events, contexts and outcomes” (Morais de Sá e Silva, Porto de Oliveira, 2023). As examples we can consider the processes of internationalization of domestic best practices (e.g., Mexican Oportunidades, Participatory Budgeting and Ciclovía), the localization of global policies (e.g., the Sendai Framework), the development of bottom-up civil society led policy instruments (e.g., food security policies across Latin America), the coordination of national responses to crises (e.g., the WHO role in Covid-19), the evaluation of peacekeeping operations, setting global agendas (such as the SDGs or the Paris Agreement), etc. From a different perspective domestic policies can also involve transnational dynamics, such as ministries seeking for technical assistance from the OECD in specific areas or international private consultancies serving as advisors to governments. These are only a few of the current examples of public policy processes involving a transnational dimension. 

The panel continues a discussion that will take place at the Conference On Policy Process Research (Denver, 2022 and Syracuse, 2023) and the International Conference on Public Policy (Toronto, 2023). We expect to receive unpublished original papers to compile a special issue from papers submitted to the panel.

⁃   We invite papers which explore the panel’s overarching questions from a theoretical, methodological, and empirical perspective.

⁃   We welcome innovative and interdisciplinary papers from a range of different disciplines including political science, sociology, international relations, political geography, political demography to understand the transnational policy processes.

⁃   To be selected, the papers will need to focus on the transnational dimensions of the policy process.