Policy transfer: a tool for political development. A comparative study of child welfare services between Norway and Bolivia

Abstract

The value of social work is not only to reinforce preconceived ideals. Sometimes the best social work practice may be to contribute to fairer and more effective social institutions. If for instance we picture a context in country A of a well ordered social policy and country B were it is not working, the chances of effective social work would be higher in country A. Should and could the shape of the policy in country A then be exported to country B? This is the paramount question I address at two levels in this thesis: First I look and explore the policy issue: the scope, capacity and implementation condition in two different social contexts: Norway and Bolivia using the child welfare service as an exemplar policy area. Then I analyze if such policies, using Norway as a model, may be transfer from the one context to the other within the interest area of policy learning, policy making, policy transfer and political development. I not only found a possible way by which political development can be promoted using policy transfer, but this research contributes with an innovative scope in transfer research, this is transfer as a tool for political development.