Concept
Hacker (2004) argued the US welfare state weakened without major legislative cuts: new risks arose from changes in work and family, but policymakers did not adapt institutions. Change through inaction, he called it a 'hidden politics' of retrenchment.
A mode of gradual change
Streeck and Thelen (2005) listed drift with displacement, layering and conversion as modes of gradual institutional change. Mahoney and Thelen (2010) argued drift is likely where many veto players block reform. It complements path dependence.
Cases and consequences
Béland (2007) analysed US Social Security, and Rocco and Thurston (2014) proposed observable indicators of drift. Hacker and Pierson (2010) argued drift in minimum wages and taxation fuelled inequality, and Galvin and Hacker (2020) linked it to stalemate and distrust. It is a key lens on the politics of welfare retrenchment.
FAQ
- What is policy drift in simple terms?
- Rules stay the same while the world changes, so policies lose effect because no one updates them.
- What is an example?
- A minimum wage or benefit left unchanged for years while prices rise, eroding its real value.
Sources reviewed: 2026-10-26
References
- Hacker, J. S. (2004). Privatizing risk without privatizing the welfare state: The hidden politics of social policy retrenchment in the United States. American Political Science Review, 98(2), 243–260. The article that introduced policy drift.
- Streeck, W., & Thelen, K. (Eds.). (2005). Beyond continuity: Institutional change in advanced political economies. Oxford University Press. Classifies drift among modes of gradual change.
- Mahoney, J., & Thelen, K. (Eds.). (2010). Explaining institutional change: Ambiguity, agency, and power. Cambridge University Press. Theorises when drift occurs.
- Béland, D. (2007). Ideas and institutional change in social security: Conversion, layering, and policy drift. Social Science Quarterly, 88(1), 20–38. Drift in US Social Security.
- Rocco, P., & Thurston, C. (2014). From metaphors to measures: Observable indicators of gradual institutional change. Journal of Public Policy, 34(1), 35–62. Observable indicators of drift.
- Galvin, D. J., & Hacker, J. S. (2020). The political effects of policy drift: Policy stalemate and American political development. Studies in American Political Development, 34(2), 216–238. The political consequences of drift.
- Hacker, J. S., & Pierson, P. (2010). Winner-take-all politics: How Washington made the rich richer—and turned its back on the middle class. Simon & Schuster. Drift and rising inequality.