The Network Science of Public Policy Diffusion

• In Event: Methodological Pluralism

Abstract

Public policy diffusion is a process that connects policymakers, advocates, and publics across political institutions and jurisdictions. The sociopolitical structure that best represents such connections is the network. Network structures and processes were at the cores of the classic and foundational theoretical works on public policy diffusion. However, for decades, due in large part to methodological norms and limitations, network analysis was not a common approach to the study of policy diffusion. This divide between theory and method has been narrowing rapidly over the last decade. Network science, in which network theory and analytical methods are integrated, is an emerging, and now represents a relatively common approach to the study of policy diffusion. In this paper we present three related discussions. First, we review the early theoretical and empirical work on policy distribution that laid the groundwork for the development of a network science of policy diffusion. Second, we discuss the recent empirical and theoretical advances that reflect the development of network-analytic approaches to the study of policy diffusion. Third, we discuss opportunities for future development in the network science of policy diffusion. We conclude that, over a relatively short time, the network scientific approach has led to several important contributions in the study of public policy diffusion, and that network science represents a robust and promising approach to policy diffusion research.

Authors

• Ishita Gopal, The Pennsylvania State University

• Bruce Desmarais, Pennsylvania State University