The Agency of Recipient Countries in Transnational Policy-Related Knowledge Transfer: From Conditionality to Elaborated Autonomous Policy Learning

Current research on transnational knowledge transfer has a strong bias toward (often conditionality-based) advice originating in the core OECD world and focuses nearly exclusively on the link from a source to a target of knowledge transfer. This contribution provides a broader and more nuanced picture by looking at the reverse logic of non-OECD countries proactively searching abroad for policy advice and assessing this advice based on their own requirements. Based on the role of conditionality and on the attitude of the recipient country toward cooperation with foreign sources of advice, five demand-side strategies in transnational policy-related knowledge transfer are distinguished, each of which is analyzed utilizing the example of health reform. The results highlight systematic differences in the attitude toward and employment of foreign advice.