Abstract

Diffusion, transfer and translation literatures assume that policy ideas are conceived exogenously, while domestic perspectives such as bricolage consider policy innovations as reactivated local ideas. Cases where foreign ideas do not shape local actors’ preferences, but still feature saliently in public discourse therefore appear in a conceptual blind spot. The paper develops a distinction between the symbolic and substantive functions of foreign ideas. For the case of German pension politics it argues that foreign ideas can be causally consequential as (symbolic) framing devices, even if their underlying ideas had (substantively) long been conceived and advocated in the domestic context. The analysis finds that the foreign-frame ‘Anglo-American pension funds’—a most likely case for translation and diffusion—was initially employed by change agents to advance their longstanding preference for more financialized pension policies. During the ensuing political struggles, continuity agents successfully reinterpreted and utilized the same frame to prevent pension financialization and veneer continuity as the transfer of a foreign policy innovation in what is best described as label localization. Thinking of foreign ideas in substantive and symbolic terms specifies how ideas emerge and how they are used in political conflict, which bridges global and domestic perspectives on policy change.

摘要

扩散、转移和翻译文献假设政策理念是外生的，而国内观点（如拼装）则将政策创新视为重新激活的本地理念。外国思想不会影响当地行为者的偏好，但仍然在公共话语中占据突出地位的案例因此出现在概念盲点中。本文对外国思想的象征功能和实质性功能进行了区分。对于德国养老金政治的案例，它认为外国思想可以作为（象征性的）框架装置在因果上产生因果关系，即使它们的基本思想（实质上）长期以来是在国内背景下构想和提倡的。分析发现，外国框架的“英美养老基金”——最有可能的转化和传播案例——最初被变革推动者用来推进他们长期以来对更金融化的养老金政策的偏好。在随后的政治斗争中，连续性代理人成功地重新解释和利用相同的框架来防止养老金金融化和单板连续性作为外交政策创新的转移，最好被描述为标签本地化。以实质性和象征性的方式思考外国思想，说明了思想是如何出现的，以及它们如何在政治冲突中使用，这在政策变化的全球和国内视角之间架起了桥梁。连续性代理人成功地重新解释和利用相同的框架来防止养老金金融化和单板连续性作为外交政策创新的转移，最好被描述为标签本地化。以实质性和象征性的方式思考外国思想，说明了思想是如何出现的，以及它们如何在政治冲突中使用，这在政策变化的全球和国内视角之间架起了桥梁。连续性代理人成功地重新解释和利用相同的框架来防止养老金金融化和单板连续性作为外交政策创新的转移，最好被描述为标签本地化。以实质性和象征性的方式思考外国思想，说明了思想是如何出现的，以及它们如何在政治冲突中使用，这在政策变化的全球和国内视角之间架起了桥梁。