This book challenges the conventional North-to-South direction of policy diffusion by examining how policy learning flows from the Global South to the Global North. Through a series of global case studies, it reveals successful, failed, and often concealed instances of policy innovation in the Global South influencing systems in the Global North. Exploring real-world examples from Latin America, Africa, and Asia across various sectors, the chapters demonstrate how solutions in the Global South are frequently adopted yet rarely acknowledged. The volume progresses from analysing missed opportunities and repackaged ideas to explicit transfers, arguing that recognising innovation in the Global South is not just about equity but is essential for effective global governance. It is essential for scholars and practitioners in public policy, international relations, and development studies, filling a critical gap in the literature on global policy learning.
1. Introduction: South-North Learning Against the Odds.- Part I:
Ignoring Lessons from the Global South.-
2. Community engagement and social
engagement in public health: Lessons from the West African response to Ebola
.-
3. Policy Innovation in Early Childhood Education and Care: (Why) Did West
Germany (not) learn from East Germany?.-
4. South Africa's Social Protection
Innovations: Lessons in Bidirectional Policy Learning.-
5. Path-breaking
Latin American policies and legacies: neglecting what works.-
6. Platform
work in Africa and the potential for policy innovation.- Part II: Partial,
Concealed and Distorted Learnings.-
7. When incomplete learning leads to
policy failure: Lessons from exporting the Chilean pension reform.-
8. How
Latin America innovated care.-
9. Do Stories about the Medellin Miracle in
the Global North Hold up to Scrutiny?.-
10. Plastic waste management policy
commitment: Learnings from Rwanda.-
11. How ASEAN countries manage the
digital economy.- Part III: Substantial Learning.-
12. Policy Transfer and
Local Nuances: The Grameen Bank Model's Varied Reception in Global North.-
13. How Estonia travelled to the West and South.-
14. Participatory budgeting
in Japan: something to learn from Brazilian public budgeting?.-
15.
Crowdsourcing Disaster Management Data: The Case of Kenyan Innovation.-
16.
Conclusion: When Weakness Turns to Strength.
Achim Kemmerling is Professor of International Development and Public Policy at the Willy Brandt School of Public Policy, University of Erfurt, Germany.
Luicy Pedroza is a Research Professor at El Colegio de México and an Associate Fellow at the ILAS-GIGA, Germany.
Hasnain Bokhari is Head of Digital Policy & Artificial Intelligence at the Willy Brandt School of Public Policy, University of Erfurt, Germany.
