The study of policy transfer initially focused on transfers and transmissions among developed countries or from developed countries to the developing world. Today the circulation of policy and knowledge has become more dense and complex. The articles in the special issue concentrate on the growing velocity of policy innovations spreading from the developing world to other parts of the developing as well as into developed countries and towards international organisations. The context of international development cooperation has been particularly fertile in the cross-pollination of ideas, models and policy experiments, and the articles in this Special Issue draw deeply on this insight. Using a 'development lens' enables the authors to view processes of knowledge diffusion and policy transfer not from the centre, in the ministries of national governments, but from policy perimeters, in cities and local government, among those outside political power in opposition groups and movements, and bottom-up from policy implementers.

Policy transfer, diffusion and circulation studies are a fertile ground for innovation in public policy analysis. In a globalized world, where state boundaries are permeable and public policy travels transnationally, the diffusion of policies is what naturally connects domestic to international policy. The recent surge of publications in the field consolidated an important and dense body of knowledge. However, after years of research, there now seems stasis if not stagnation, with relatively little conceptual innovation. In this article we propose to address fresh avenues for future research, considering what needs to be better understood in the policy diffusion phenomenon. The new frontiers to be explored are not only associated to heuristic dimensions of the field, but also to empirical dynamics that emerged in the past years. We highlight six new frontiers for policy transfer and diffusion research: (1) the role of the private sector and consultants; (2) internationalization of domestic coalitions; (3) transnational spaces and transfer agents; (4) policy translation; (5) resistance to transfer; and (6) South-South or South-North transfers. Keywords: policy transfer; transfer agents; transnational arenas; policy coalitions; global South.Novas fronteiras e direções na pesquisa sobre transferência, difusão e circulação de políticas públicas: agentes, espaços, resistência e traduções Os estudos sobre transferência, difusão e circulação de políticas são um campo fértil para a inovação no campo da análise de políticas públicas. No mundo globalizado, onde as fronteiras do Estado são permeáveis e a política pública trafega transnacionalmente, a difusão de políticas é o que conecta naturalmente a política doméstica à internacional. O recente aumento de publicações no campo consolidou um corpo de conhecimento denso e relevante. No entanto, após anos de pesquisa, parece que há agora uma certa estase, para não dizer uma estagnação, com relativamente pouca inovação conceitual. Neste artigo propomos abordar novos caminhos para futuras pesquisas, considerando o que precisa ser mais bem compreendido sobre o fenômeno da difusão de políticas. As novas políticas a explorar não estão, em nossa opinião, somente associadas a dimensões heurísticas do campo, mas também a dinâmicas empíricas que emergiram nos últimos anos. Destacamos seis novas fronteiras para a pesquisa sobre a transferência e a difusão de políticas públicas: (1) o papel do setor privado e dos consultores; (2) a internacionalização das coalizões domésticas; (3) os espaços transnacionais e agentes de transferência; (4) a tradução de políticas; (5) a resistência à transferência; e (6) as transferências Sul-Sul ou Sul-Norte. Palavras-chave: transferência de políticas; agentes de transferência; arenas transnacionais; coalizões de políticas; Sul global.Nuevas fronteras y rumbos en la investigación sobre transferencia, difusión y circulación de políticas públicas: agentes, espacios, resistencia y traducciones RAP | New frontiers and directions in policy transfer, diffusio...

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Public sector reform is a key policy area, driven by global public policy networks. Research on these networks has been inductive, highlighting organizations like the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). This article examines "virtual policy networks" (VPNs) on the Web. Using IssueCrawler, we conduct a hyperlink analysis that permits us to map seven VPNs. The first network mapped the hyperlinks of 91 organizations identified through inductive methods. The hypothesis that the virtual network would include all actors identified in the inductive approach was refuted. The other six networks focused on: market mechanisms, open government, performance, public employment, reform, and restructuring. Among the findings, the U.S. government is prominent in the first three, while international organizations dominate the others. VPN rankings show that the World Bank dominates the OECD. When the inductive research is blended with the VPN research, the OECD's prominence increases, and we see the importance of market mechanisms and reform VPNs as pillars of globalization.