Special Issue: Policy Innovation in the Global South and South–North Policy Learning

Abstract

This introduction to the special issue “Policy Innovation in the Global South and South–North Policy Learning” shows how analyses of South–North policy learning need to go beyond standard debates of inter- and transnational policy learning, transfer and diffusion. It discusses crucial concepts and proposes three asymmetries that influence not only the likelihood for learning to occur, but also the type of policy learning and the concomitant empirical evidence needed. It illustrates the usefulness of this approach, summarizing the four contributions in the special issue. The introduction highlights that South-North policy learning happens much more often than usually believed, but that it is often concealed, underreported and overlooked.

Keywords:

• Global South
• policy innovation
• diffusion
• transfer
• learning

Acknowledgements

I thank the contributors to this special issue, as well as Jale Tosun for their excellent comments. I also greatly appreciate the support by Clara Tak Yan Law. I thank Karen Ceron and her colleagues from Universidad del Rosario, as well as Eko Prasojo, Reza Faturrahman and their colleagues from Universitas Indonesia for their input.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Fritz Thyssen Stiftung [Az. 50.14.0.046].

Notes on contributors

Achim Kemmerling

Achim Kemmerling is Gerhard Haniel Chair of International Development and Public Policy and director of the Willy Brandt School of Public Policy, University of Erfurt. He holds a PhD from Freie Universität in Berlin and has previously worked at Central European University Budapest, Jacobs University Bremen and the Social Science Research Centre in Berlin. He researches on the political economy of social, labour and tax policies in developing countries.