The Global Diffusion of Markets and Democracy

The diffusion of markets and democracy around the world was a defining feature of the late twentieth century. Many social scientists view this economic and political liberalization as the product of independent choices by national governments. This book argues that policy and political changes were influenced heavily by prior actions of external actors: not just other governments, but international organizations and communities of experts. Drawing together insights from economics, sociology, political science and international relations, the contributors focus on four mechanisms by which markets and democracy have diffused through interdependent decision-making: coercion and the impact of powerful countries and international actors; economic competition for markets and investment; learning from experiences of other countries; and emulation among countries. These mechanisms are tested empirically using sophisticated quantitative techniques in areas as diverse as capital account and investment policy, human rights and democratization, and government downsizing, privatization and taxation.

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction: the diffusion of liberalization Beth Simmons, Frank Dobbin and Geoffrey Garrett; 2. Tax policy in an era of internationalization: an assessment of a conditional diffusion model of the spread of neoliberalism Duane Swank; 3. The decision to privatize: economists and the construction of ideas and policies Bruce Kogut and J. Muir Macpherson; 4. The international diffusion of public sector downsizing: network emulation and theory-driven learning Chang Kil Lee and David Strang; 5. Global ideology and voter sentiment as determinants of international financial liberalization Dennis P. Quinn and A. Maria Toyoda; 6. Competing for capital: the diffusion of bilateral investment treaties, 1960-2000 Zachary Elkins, Andrew T. Guzman and Beth A. Simmons; 7. Diffusion and the spread of democratic institutions Kristian Skrede Gleditsch and Michael D. Ward; 8. World society and human rights: an event history analysis of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women Christine Min Wotipka and Francisco O. Ramirez; 9. Conclusion Geoffrey Garrett, Frank Dobbin and Beth Simmons.

About the Author :
Beth Simmons is Clarence Dillon Professor of International Affairs and Director of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University. She received her Ph.D. from Harvard in the Department of Government and has taught international relations, international law, and international political economy at Duke University, the University of California at Berkeley, and Harvard. Her book Who Adjusts? Domestic Sources of Foreign Economic Policy During the Interwar Years, 1924�939, was recognized by the American Political Science Association in 1995 as the best book published in 1994 in government, politics, or international relations. She has worked at the International Monetary Fund with the support of a Council on Foreign Relations Fellowship (1995�996), has spent a year as a senior fellow at the United States Institute of Peace (1996�997), spent a year in residence at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University (2002�003), and is currently a Fellow at the Straus Institute for the Advanced Study of Law and Justice at New York University. Her new book is entitled Mobilizing for Human Rights: International Law in Domestic Politics (Cambridge University Press, 2009). Simmons was elected in April 2009 to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Frank Dobbin is Professor of Sociology at Harvard University. Geoffrey Garrett is President of the Pacific Council on International Policy and Professor of International Relations at the University of Southern California.

Review :
'Simmons, Dobbin and Garrett have put together a most impressive collection of studies of policy diffusion in world society. The chapters are sophisticated theoretically, and state-of-the-art methodologically and make a strong contribution toward a general analysis of global policy integration. They also contribute greatly to the study of the recent worldwide wave of liberal policies of political democratization and economic marketization.' John W. Meyer, Professor of Sociology, Emeritus, Stanford University