Semi-Domestic Politics: Policy Diffusion from Sweden to Fin land

Abstract

This article presents the main results of a research project on policy diffusion from Sweden to Finland from about 1947. Sixty innovative Swedish policies are compared in detail with Finnish policies introduced later. One-fourth of these cases display more or less identical policies in the two countries. Half of these cases of 'probable diffusion' are then subjected to detailed case study analysis. It turns out that the similarities are indeed results of diffusion from Sweden to Finland, i.e. involve a conscious introduction of Swedish modeis into Finnish politics. No one pattern of diffusion can be observed, but the author suggests that there are four typical kinds of diffusion: political, bureaucratic, corporative and cumulative. In a discussion of implications for further research the author stresses that more attention should be paid to purely domestic factors in the study of Nordic relations. He suggests an increased use of policy analytical methods and perspectives in this enterprise.