| Review of: | Policy Transfer in European Union Governance: Regulating the Utilities by S. Bulmer, D. Dolowitz, P. Humphreys, S. Padgett |
|---|---|
| Reviewed By: | Ian Bartle |
| Reviewed in: | Journal of Common Market Studies |
| Date accepted online: | 02/11/2007 |
| Published in print: | Volume 45, Issue 03, Pages 745-769 |
Book Reviews
Policy transfer is increasingly observed in public policy and increasingly deployed as a methodology for analysing policy change. International organizations often feature in policy transfer but have seldom been the main subject of analysis. This substantial study brings to the forefront the role of a key international organization, the European Union, in policy transfer. It draws on three sectoral cases, telecommunications, air transport and electricity, all of which have undergone dramatic change in the past two decades. Traditionally organized as national monopolies across Europe, they have been subject to the single market programme and become liberalized and internationalized with regulatory principles set at EU level. The book provides a thorough account of how the EU has operated as a dynamic institutional environment for policy learning and transfer from policy 'leaders', such as the UK, the first mover in major utility reform in Europe, to other Member States.
Cross-sectoral comparative analysis of policy transfer is sustained and systematic. Comparison is undertaken via the conceptual prisms of 'hierarchical', 'negotiated' and 'facilitated' policy transfer combined with an institutionalist analysis of the EU. The authors observed multifarious forms of transfer and found more evidence of hierarchical and negotiated transfer than of facilitated transfer (horizontal transfer between Member States), a consequence of the EU's institutionalization. A recurring theme is a competitive process of 'uploading' policies from Member States to the EU and then 'downloading' them back to all Member States. A distinct manifestation of this, in a process substantially mediated by EU and national institutions, is the uploading and downloading of UK reforms.
Critics of policy transfer have doubted whether it adds value in policy analysis. Although the authors seek to justify its value, their arguments are not entirely compelling. It is not clear, for example, whether the hierarchical and negotiated transfer concepts add significant value over established techniques in European integration and policy-making in the supranational and intergovernmental traditions.
The preoccupation with policy transfer has left little space for critical analysis and explanation of the neo-liberal shift. Despite distancing themselves from determinism and rational institutionalism, the authors' underlying assumption appears to be that policy transfer is primarily a rational response to global economic imperatives and technological change. However, these exogenous forces are weaker in one of the sectors, electricity, yet all three sectors have experienced a long run shift to liberalized markets (albeit with distinct differences in pace and timing). The authors ascribe the shift in electricity to greater Commission activism, but other factors, such as wider international political forces and ideologies, might provide more compelling explanations. This is particularly possible given that another strong global imperative - the need to mitigate climate change - which impacts substantially on air transport and electricity, has not led to a policy transformation of comparable magnitude.