Studying policy transfer and policy learning in border regions. A proposition for interdisciplinary dialogue and a research agenda

ABSTRACT

In recent years, research on cross-border cooperation has proliferated, also receiving increased attention from political science. Nevertheless, important insights from the literatures on policy learning and transfer have not been systematically introduced into this field of study so far. In this article, we address this shortcoming by offering an analytical framework for analysing policy learning and transfer in (cross-)border regions, thereby focusing on processes that may help us better capture the evolution and dynamics of cross-border regions. We conceptually discern between four different types, namely policy learning in cross-border regions, horizontal transfer in cross-border regions, horizontal transfer between cross-border regions and vertical transfer between the European or the national and the (cross-)border level. For each case, we discuss potential drivers and give empirical examples to illustrate the conceptual model.

KEYWORDS:

• policy transfer
• policy learning
• cross-border cooperation
• cross-border regions

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 While CBC does not exclusively take place in the European Union, this article focuses mostly on the specific institutional conditions in the EU.

2 We define policy transfer as a process of receiving inspiration for a policy from a separate reference point, for example another state or city, whereas policy learning takes place when actors update their knowledge or policy beliefs based on own past experiences or through joint eclectic innovation. A more in-depth discussion of the two concepts is given in Section 3.

3 The first EUREGIO Rhine-Ems-Ijssel gave itself its name in 1965, after its cooperation had already been formalised in 1958 (Klatt and Herrmann 2011).

4 Recently, quantitative studies have sought to determine the impact of these factors. Key findings point towards the importance of dense actor networks grown over a long period of time, economic prosperity and the degree of institutionalisation (Basboga 2020; Harguindéguy and Sánchez Sánchez 2017).

5 The variety of research strands dealing with policy learning has not coalesced into a unified paradigm. Literature reviews systematize the literature according to questions such as how knowledge is used by actors in learning processes (Dunlop and Radaelli 2013), whether learning takes place at the micro-level of individuals, the meso-level of organisations or the macro-level of knowledge systems (Moyson, Scholten, and Weible 2017), or according to chronological order (Dunlop, Radaelli, and Trein 2018; Goyal and Howlett 2018; Moyson and Scholten 2018).

6 According to Goyal and Howlett (2024), policy learning can take place in all three streams of the MSF. In order for policy learning to result in policy change, learning needs to influence the coupling of the streams while a policy window is open.

7 Other closely related concepts are those of lesson drawing (Rose 1991; 1993), policy diffusion (Simmons and Elkins 2004; Shipan and Volden 2008; Weyland 2005) and policy mobilities (McCann and Ward 2011; Peck and Theodore 2010; Robinson 2015). For a detailed discussion of these concepts and their relation see for example Haupt (2023), Benson and Jordan (2011). For the purpose of this paper, these demarcations are not essential which is why we will focus on the term ‘policy transfer’ in the following.

8 The types of learning and transfer discussed here are not exhaustive. In addition, learning and transfer from other origins, such as other subnational entities, is of course possible.

9 The corresponding Interreg region, the so-called Greater Region, includes parts of French region Grand Est, the German Land Saarland, parts of the German Land Rhineland-Palatinate, the state Luxembourg and the Belgian region Wallonia.

10 However, the literatures have different views on the economic dimension, where similarity has been found to favour policy transfer, while complementary economic structures can actually be beneficial for CBC.

11 While our theoretical focus mainly is on transfer and learning, we do not claim that these processes always occur when policies change in border regions. Clearly, there is a multitude of forces that affect policy-making in general and in CBR, which we do not discuss here. Nevertheless, given the many possible pathways of learning and transfer, we would certainly expect that these forces have a high chance to influence policy decisions. Whether this is the case, remains the tasks of empirical studies which can use our framework for a systematic analysis.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung: [Grant Number: 01UC2104C].