Globalization, four paths of internationalization and domestic policy change: The case of ecoforestry in British Columbia, Canada

Confusion over how forces from beyond state borders affect domestic policy occurs because analysts often conflate different nondomestic factors, or focus on particular sources of influence to the exclusion of others. To remedy this problem, the authors make a distinction between the structural economic forces associated with rising levels of trade, finance and investment (globalization), and the increased activities or influence of transnational actors and international institutions, and the ideas they promote (internationalization). A focus on how transnational actors and international institutions influence domestic policy reveals four distinct pathways through which internationalization produces policy change-the use of markets, international rules, normative discourse and infiltration of domestic policy-making processes. The authors develop hypotheses to show the conditions under which influence is successfully achieved along each path. The case of ecoforestry policy change in the 1990s in Canada's Pacific Coast province, British Columbia, is used to illustrate the validity of the hypotheses.