Policy transfer in the development of UK climate policy

Policy transfer between states has attracted interest among analysts in recent years. The literature conceives transfer as relatively discrete: policy formulation begins with transfer processes, which are then replaced by domestic processes during implementation. This article explores the relationship between transfer and domestic processes through an analysis of UK climate policy, which bears the hallmarks of transfer. While the study does pass tests for transfer derived from the literature, the analysis finds that a simple stages model ignores the way transfer is deeply embedded in domestic processes, from the initial framing of searches through to the implementation of policy.