Strategic Management Thought

Understanding the Substance of Public Policies: Theoretical Exploration of the Nature of the National Policy Makers’ Imitativeness

Authors

1 Associate Professor of Management, Tehran University, Tehran

2 Associate Professor of Management, Tarbiat Moderres University, Tehran

3 Professor of Management, Tehran University, Tehran

4 Ph.D. Student of Management, Tehran University, Tehran

Abstract

Examining the current well-known theories of public policy process shows that they often disregard foreign or international environment of the government. In other words, current theories cannot explain the increasing similarity of public policies among countries. In an interdisciplinary research, this article reviews six selected theoretical fields which describe in some respects the imitative nature of public policies in different countries. These theoretical fields include: lesson drawing; policy convergence; policy transfer; policy diffusion; institutional isomorphism; and policy learning. Examining these theoretical fields pave the way for a new theory of public policy process specifically in nonwestern countries.

Keywords

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Strategic Management Thought
Volume 5, Issue 1 - Serial Number 1
April 2011
Pages 5-44
  • Receive Date: 09 July 2011
  • Revise Date: 21 March 2011
  • Accept Date: 30 August 2011