Bennett, Colin J <br/><br/>
What is policy convergence and what causes it? (Review Article) 

<br/><br/> This article reviews a body of recent comparative policy literature to identify a fourfold framework of processes through which convergence might rise: emulation, where state officials copy action taken elsewhere; elite networking where convergence reesults from transnational policy communities; harmonization through international regimes; and penetration by external actors and interests. In drawing some methodological and theoretical lessons about how to study this phenomenon in the future, the article concludes that policy concergence should not denote an absence of state autonomy. Rather an application of state-centred theory suggests that with the exception of penetration the other processes may occur t 
<br/><br/><label>Subjects--Topical Terms: </label><br/> Political Science<br/> Policy<br/>Public Policy