From lesson-drawing to policy transfer
Rose (1991, 1993) called 'lesson-drawing' the process by which policymakers facing a problem look at how similar problems were solved at other times or in other countries. He stressed that a policy successful elsewhere works only if institutions and resources are similar. Dolowitz and Marsh (1996) broadened this into 'policy transfer', which covers not only voluntary learning but also imposed transfer, such as conditional loans from international organizations.
An analytical framework
Dolowitz and Marsh (2000) proposed key questions: why actors transfer, who is involved, what is transferred (goals, instruments, institutions, ideologies), from where lessons are drawn and to what degree (copying, emulation, combination, inspiration). They placed transfer on a continuum from voluntary lesson-drawing to coercive transfer. Stone (2004) analyzed how 'transfer agents' such as think tanks, consultants and international organizations move policies across borders, and Evans and Davies (1999) added a multi-level perspective.
Failure and related concepts
Policy transfer can fail. Dolowitz and Marsh identified 'uninformed transfer' with insufficient information about context, 'incomplete transfer' missing crucial elements and 'inappropriate transfer' ignoring social and economic differences. The concept overlaps with policy diffusion, which focuses on the spatial spread of policies, and institutional isomorphism, in which organizations come to resemble each other. Benson and Jordan (2011) concluded that research had grown greatly but systematic analysis of transfer outcomes and success remained scarce.
FAQ
- What is policy transfer in simple terms?
- It is learning from policies or institutions that worked in other countries or regions and bringing them into your own policymaking.
- Why does policy transfer fail?
- Because of insufficient information, leaving out crucial elements or ignoring differences in social and economic context.
Sources reviewed: 2026-10-26
References
- Dolowitz, D., & Marsh, D. (1996). Who learns what from whom: A review of the policy transfer literature. Political Studies, 44(2), 343–357. The founding review.
- Dolowitz, D. P., & Marsh, D. (2000). Learning from abroad: The role of policy transfer in contemporary policy-making. Governance, 13(1), 5–23. The analytical framework.
- Rose, R. (1991). What is lesson-drawing? Journal of Public Policy, 11(1), 3–30. Lesson-drawing.
- Rose, R. (1993). Lesson-drawing in public policy: A guide to learning across time and space. Chatham House. Lesson-drawing systematized.
- Evans, M., & Davies, J. (1999). Understanding policy transfer: A multi-level, multi-disciplinary perspective. Public Administration, 77(2), 361–385. Multi-level perspective.
- Stone, D. (2004). Transfer agents and global networks in the 'transnationalization' of policy. Journal of European Public Policy, 11(3), 545–566. Transfer agents.
- Benson, D., & Jordan, A. (2011). What have we learned from policy transfer research? Dolowitz and Marsh revisited. Political Studies Review, 9(3), 366–378. Research revisited.