Policy convergence and policy learning have emerged as central themes in the study of public policy in recent years. Previously published as a special issue of German Politics, this landmark volume complements the rich literature on theoretical aspects as well as individual case studies by undertaking a systematic comparison of policy convergence between two specific countries, the UK and Germany.

Essay aus dem Jahr 2009 im Fachbereich Politik - Politische Systeme allgemein und im Vergleich, Note: A, South Bank University London (Faculty of Art and Human Sciences), Veranstaltung: European Policy - Seminar "Comparative Analysis", Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: After investigating the active employment measures of the United Kingdom and Germany as well as their reforms of the Employment Services since the creation of the European Employment Strategy in 1997, it can be said that Germany adapted huge parts of the British system. The British set the European Employment Strategy’s agenda and extended their policy model to the European level. Via the European Employment Strategy, the British system significantly changed the German one from a highly protective to a liberal model. The German state transferred the responsibility for protection from employment related “common risks of life” to the citizens, reducing its own measures to supporting services and a mere “guarantee of survival”. Although this convergence of Employment Policy was caused by the European Employment Strategy, it did not contribute to the merging of a unified European Employment Policy or to a public awareness of the European Union’s role in this policy area. While Germany obviously respected the European Employment Strategy as a “superior guidance” and treated it as a self standing “European Policy”, the British used it to extend the reach of their national policies. A real integration of national policies into an EU-policy did not happen. In the United Kingdom as well as in Germany, the reforms of the employment policies have not been determined and implemented in a process of broad public participation but mostly as a “top-down” process, with decisions made by a professional elite. The European Employment Strategy with its set of policy methods (Open Methods of Cooperation) had not been able to reach its goals of a more democratic policy making and more public awareness of an independent role of the European Union in employment policy.

How have regionalization processes across Europe impacted on policy convergence? This book takes as its starting point the curious fact that autonomous regional policymaking may be parallel to regional governments pursuing policy similarity. The author proposes that these observations are paradoxical only if sector-specific policy norms are disregarded and when autonomy is considered as the exclusive goal of regional governments. Focusing on common yet under-studied regional situations where a sense of cultural or historical distinctiveness is not readily apparent, if at all, the book argues that in policy sectors where norms of territorial equality have long been dominant, regional governments endorse them as a way to secure or expand their policy capacity when the central state or other policy entrepreneurs challenge it. This results in converging policies. A textured comparative account of educational policymaking in German Länder and French conseils régionaux over three decades forms the backbone of this analysis of policymaking in ordinary regions.

A fresh analysis of policy convergences across nations, which identifies their key driving forces. To what extent and in which direction can we empirically observe a convergence of national policies? In which areas and for which patterns of policy is convergence more or less pronounced? This text addresses these central questions with clarity and rigour. With growing economic and institutional interlinkages between nation states, it is often assumed that there is an overall trend towards increasingly similar policies across countries. Comparative research on the domestic impact of globalization and European integration, however, reveals that policy convergence can hardly be considered as a dominant and uniform tendency which can be taken for granted. Although a number of factors have been suggested in order to account for the rather mixed empirical picture, we still have limited knowledge about the causes and conditions of cross-national policy convergence. In particular, the central mechanisms and conditions affecting both degree and level of cross-national policy convergence are yet not well understood. This book will be of great interest to all students and scholars of the European Union, European politics, and international relations. This is a special issue of the leading Journal of European Public Policy.

This introduction into comparative public administration provides an in-depth analysis of the state of public administration and recent administrative reforms in European countries. By focusing on the UK, France, Germany, Sweden, Italy and Hungary, it highlights key types of the Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavian, Continental European and Central East European variance of public administration. Its guiding question is whether and why the politico-administrative systems have shown convergence or divergence.

Europe Under Stress: Convergence and Divergence in the European Community is the second of two volumes which flow from a Chatham House project on the political implications of economic divergence in the European Community, funded by the Social Science Research Council. This second volume offers an interpretation of the problems that divergence poses for the European Community in a number of key sectors, from the perspective of a political economist. This book begins with a discussion of the concepts of convergence and divergence followed by an explanation of the methodology adopted in this book. The remaining chapters are organized into two parts. The chapters in Part I examine the attitudes of the major EEC member states to the convergence/divergence issue and what the terms mean for each of them. This part also attempts to relate these positions to the concerns and interests of the countries involved. The chapters in Part II analyze the impact of economic divergence on community policies.

This book examines the intricate challenges faced by women and families during the transition to motherhood. It presents unique theoretical and methodological approaches to studying women’s transition from being employees to working mothers. Its focus is on the impact of work on the transition to motherhood, and the impact of motherhood on women’s working arrangements, work attitudes, work experiences and perspectives. Special attention is given to intervention research that can enhance the health and well-being of mothers and employers as they reconcile demands of the family-work interface. Integrating theoretical framework development and methodological considerations, this book provides an in-depth introduction to the topic. It brings together researchers and experts on the work-family interface, on workplace discrimination during pregnancy and early motherhood, and well-being.