Policy Transfer and Policy Success: The Case of the Gateway Review Process (2001–10)

Fawcett, Paul; Marsh, David

doi:10.1111/j.1477-7053.2011.01358.x

Cited by 38 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 9 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…As shall be argued below, this is an important insight into the nature of policy success which helps unify and clarify the existing literatures on both policy learning and failure while simultaneously pointing towards means and mechanisms through which common sources of failure can be avoided or overcome (Fawcett and Marsh, 2012).…”

Section: The Different Causes Of Failures and Their Implications For mentioning

confidence: 90%

The lessons of failure: learning and blame avoidance in public policy-making

Howlett

2012

International Political Science Review

240

182

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Recent studies by Hood have underscored the significance of the desire of decision-makers to avoid blame for poor policy initiatives, highlighting the importance to policy-making of learning about how best to avoid policy failure. This article examines several different concepts of policy failure in the literature on the subject, such as policy accidents, errors, mistakes, and anomalies, along with recent work by McConnell and his colleagues on the general types and sources of such failures. The article distinguishes between 'thin' (technical-strategic) and 'thick' (political-experiential) policy learning and links them to McConnell's three categories of political, programme, and process failures. The analysis points to the significant and underappreciated roles played by process and political problems in the analysis of policy failure and the need to draw lessons in these areas as well as in more technically oriented programme-related ones if the prospects of policy success are to be enhanced. Introduction: policy knowledge and policy failureWhat kinds of learning contribute to enhanced policy outcomes or 'policy success' and under what circumstances? Despite the plethora of work on policy learning in the policy studies literature over the past several decades, both the independent variables (those factors that drive or contribute to learning and non-learning) and the dependent variable itself (what it is that constitutes learning) are unclear and often mis-or underspecified in many studies on the subject (Radaelli, 2009). This has led to some confusion and, especially, some difficulties in compiling the results of various studies of policy learning into a coherent and consistent set of principles that can be applied to specific problem areas in order to develop better policies, that is, ones more likely to succeed.Evaluating the existing literature on these two subjects (policy learning and policy success and failure) and better integrating them is the main purpose of this article. It moves the discussion of both subjects forward by examining and clarifying the logic and rationales behind several different

show abstract

Section: The Different Causes Of Failures and Their Implications For mentioning

confidence: 90%

The lessons of failure: learning and blame avoidance in public policy-making

Howlett

2012

International Political Science Review

240

182

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…1). For example, the first transfer of the Gateway Review process from the UK was to Victoria, subsequently followed by three other State governments in Australia (Fawcett and Marsh, 2012).…”

Section: Translation Of Bm Across Geographical and Language Boundariesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, BM is a key part of the Gateway Review process, first developed in the UK in 2001 to improve procurement decisions in the public sector and subsequently adopted in Australia, the Commonwealth, New Zealand and the Netherlands (Fawcett and Marsh, 2012).…”

Section: Melton Et Al (2008) Project Benefits Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Benefits management: Lost or found in translation

Breese

Jenner

Serra

et al. 2015

International Journal of Project Management

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

It is now about 25 years since the emergence of benefits management (BM), but hitherto it has had limited impact on project management and even less on general management practices. This is despite evidence that a focus on benefits improves the success rate of projects and programmes. One of the areas for research to explain the limited uptake concerns the spread of knowledge on BM and its adoption by organisations. The theoretical lens of translation is used to examine this issue, which focuses on the processes through which management ideas spread and influence management practice. The global development of BM is traced to identify the changes in translation processes over time and the current geographical patterns of usage. This analysis is used in conjunction with the limited evidence available on translation processes at the level of the organisation to identify key factors for the impact of BM in the future.

show abstract

“…How about other research topics? Much remains to be said, for example, about the ‘when’ variable, or how temporal factors affect policy transfers (Dussauge‐Laguna, 2012; Fawcett and Marsh, 2012; Page, 2000; Radaelli, 2009; Stone, 1999); about the ‘logistics of transfer’, including how policy study visits take place (Page et al ., 2004; Wolman, 1992), or how different organisational features and capacities condition cross‐national/cross‐sectoral learning (Brannan et al ., 2008; Common, 2004; Levitt and March, 1988; Randma‐Liiv and Kruusenberg, 2012); about the ‘politics of transfer’, or how bureaucratic conflicts, party ideologies, political calculations or political cultures might matter for these processes (Dussauge‐Laguna, forthcoming; Gilardi, 2010; Peters, 1997; Robertson, 1991; Robertson and Waltman, 1993); about the longer‐term impacts of policy transfers, including the issue of when and how to determine that a process has been successful or not (Fawcett and Marsh, 2012; Jacoby, 2000; Westney, 1987); and about the ‘spread of good/best practices’, for example how international organisations define what should be labelled as such, or how national policy makers decide which ‘good/best’ practices are worthy of imitation (Andrews, 2012; Bechberger et al ., 2008; Brannan et al . , 2008).…”

Section: In Conclusion: What Future For Policy Transfer Studies?mentioning

confidence: 99%

On the Past and Future of Policy Transfer Research: Benson and Jordan Revisited

Dussauge‐Laguna

2012

Political Studies Review

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

David Benson and Andrew Jordan's article ‘What Have We Learned from Policy Transfer Research? Dolowitz and Marsh Revisited’ provides a timely and interesting assessment on the state of the art. However, it is also a debatable one for at least two reasons: because it more or less assumes that Dolowitz and Marsh's works have provided the intellectual foundations of the policy transfer approach; and because Benson and Jordan use a rather restrictive understanding of what counts as ‘policy transfer’ studies. This article will challenge these assumptions and will argue that we can find conceptualisations and questions about policy transfer in earlier works by other scholars; that Dolowitz and Marsh's definition of ‘policy transfer’ is widely used, but has been subject to more criticisms than Benson and Jordan acknowledge; that a thorough assessment of our knowledge about policy transfer requires the use of a less restrictive approach; and that developments in policy transfer and associated research areas should be further integrated to improve our understanding of how and why governments use foreign experiences in devising their own policies.

show abstract

Policy Transfer and Policy Success: The Case of the Gateway Review Process (2001–10)

Cited by 38 publications

References 9 publications

The lessons of failure: learning and blame avoidance in public policy-making

The lessons of failure: learning and blame avoidance in public policy-making

Benefits management: Lost or found in translation

On the Past and Future of Policy Transfer Research: Benson and Jordan Revisited

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About