West-east policy transfer

Abstract

European policies on urban transport policy attach great importance to the role of best practices in promoting urban sustainability. The underlying assumption appears to be that best practices are equally applicable and effective in other parts of Europe. However, the current size of the European Union and the diversity of member states, especially since the accession of 12 new member states since 2004, draw this assumption into question. There are after all substantial differences in governance, administrative cultures and professional capacities across the 27 member states of the European Union. To date, research in the field has neither fully nor satisfactorily explored the issue of transferability of best practices, especially from west to east Europe (i.e. from ‘old’ to ‘new’ member states). What is already known about the transfer of policy models, concepts, ideas, goals and instruments from west to east Europe is that drawing lessons from the west has often been seen by countries in central and eastern Europe as a way of catching up politically and economically (Rose, 1993). The uncertainties of policy making in some of these countries have made policy transfer a particularly attractive option, as politicians see it as the quickest solution to many problems without having to reinvent the wheel (Rose, 2005; Tavits, 2003). However, the technological, economic, political and social situations in the ‘lending’ and ‘borrowing’ countries are often very different. So too are the institutional frameworks. As a consequence, the transfer process is far from straight-forward and certainly not just a matter of copying or emulation. The paper employs a case study approach to examine two closely related projects (funded by the German government) that both sought to transpose policy concepts between west and east Europe. Both projects focused on transferring the underlying concepts and principles behind German public transport executives (Verkehrsverbünde) as a way of promoting public transport and improving environmental quality in two cities in new member states of the European Union: Riga in Latvia and Wroclaw in Poland. In both cases, The paper draws on policy transfer theory to help explain the transferability of policy models, concepts, ideas, goals and instruments between west and east Europe, and to help evaluate the factors of success and failure in the specific cases of Riga and Wroclaw.