The Theory and Practice of Institutional Transplantation

As a member of the panel, this author asked those in the audience who lived and/or worked in a country different from their country of origin to raise their hands. Next he asked who had a spouse or partner from a country different from their country of origin to also raise their hands. This title provides insights into the empirical experiences of countries adopting policy institutions from other countries, in order to improve the performance or legitimacy of their own institutional structures. Both students of public and private administration, planning, political science, political geography, and comparative law recognise this issue as of high and increasing relevance. The volume presents a conceptual framework to grasp the potentials and limitations of institutional transplantation and features a collection of characteristic case studies drawn from 14 different countries on the actual process of institutional transplantation. These accounts cover a large variety of institutions including spatial and transport planning, education, housing, welfare, privatisation and political representation. The concluding chapter provides an overview of the advantages and dangers involved in adopting foreign policy institutions and the state of the art of our understanding of policy transfer and lesson-drawing in the context of the relevant academic disciplines.