Open AccessFactoring in Societal Culture in Policy Transfer Design: the Proliferation of Private Sponsorship of Refugees
Author(s) -
Daniel Bertram,
Ammar Maleki,
Niels Karsten
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of international migration and integration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.439
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1874-6365
pISSN - 1488-3473
DOI - 10.1007/s12134-019-00738-0
Subject(s) - converse , factoring , refugee , policy transfer , perspective (graphical) , sociology , political science , public relations , economics , computer science , law , public administration , epistemology , philosophy , finance , artificial intelligence
The Canadian model of private sponsorship schemes (PSS) for refugees is becoming an increasingly popular target for policy transfer in the field of migration. This article argues that the influence of societal culture on this transplanting process has played an underexplored role in the literature. We seek to provide original guidance for factoring in cultural elements into the policy transfer framework by demonstrating how specific design choices in PSS transfer display clear cultural associations. A tentative study of nine countries that have adopted different models of PSS corroborates this hypothesis empirically. Our preliminary findings suggest that cultural compatibility may indeed increase the effectiveness of a policy transfer in some instances, while culturally preferred choices being adopted in other cases may result in suboptimal design. This converse interplay indicates that cultural awareness constitutes a crucial element of successful transfer processes and stresses the need to adopt a culturally sensitive perspective more frequently and more explicitly.