Revista da CGU opens a call for papers for the Special Issue on Transnational Policy Process Research

The Revista da CGU invites researchers, practitioners, public managers, and other interested parties to submit scientific papers for its 35th edition, dedicated to the theme “Transnational Policy Process Research.”

This edition will feature the editorial curation of a group of guest special editors, with extensive technical and academic experience on the topic:

• Osmany Porto de Oliveira (Universidade Federal de São Paulo)
• Michelle Morais de Sá e Silva (The University of Oklahoma)
• Cecilia Osorio Gonnet (Universidad de Chile)
• Gita Steiner-Khamsi (Columbia University)

Policy Process is related to the “interactions that occur over time between public policies and surrounding actors, events, contexts, and outcomes” (Weible 2018, 2). In the 21st century, policymaking processes have increasingly become transnational (Hassenteufel, 2005; Porto de Oliveira, 2025). Despite this comprehensive definition, mainstream theories of the process have treated domestic policy change in isolation, as if developments in other countries, other sectors, or at the global level are of little relevance to domestic policy processes. A growing community of scholars has been dedicated to conceptual developments that address the transnational in policymaking, such as studies on policy transfer (Hadjiisky, Pal, Walker, 2018), policy borrowing and lending (Steiner-Khamsi, 2004), global policy and transnational administration (Stone, Moloney, 2019), international public policies (Petiteville, Smith 2006), Europeanization (Radaelli, 2008) and policy learning (Osorio, 2018; Kemmerling, 2023).

The transnational Policy Process refers to “the transnational interactions that occur over time between public policies and the surrounding agents, events, contexts and outcomes” (Morais de Sá e Silva, Porto de Oliveira, 2023). A transnational approach to the policy process seeks to move beyond the traditional divide between the domestic and the international in policy studies, merging both dimensions for a more comprehensive analytical perspective (Morais de Sá e Silva et al., 2026). Investigations of the transnational dimension of public policies and, more broadly, the relational methods of inquiry are perhaps best exemplified in studies that pay close attention to the processes of internationalization of domestic best practices, the localization of global policies, the development of bottom-up civil society led policy instruments, the coordination of national responses to crises, the evaluation of peacekeeping operations, and goal-setting global agendas.

As examples of transnational policy processes, we can consider the internationalization of domestic best practices (e.g., Mexico’s Oportunidades, participatory budgeting, and Ciclovía), the localization of global policies (e.g., the Sendai Framework), the adoption of sectoral instruments (either specific, such as PISA for education, or general, such as integrity principles and transparency measures for anti-corruption), the development of bottom-up, civil society-led policy instruments (e.g., food security policies across Latin America), the coordination of national responses to crises (e.g., the role of the WHO in COVID-19), the evaluation of peacekeeping operations, and the setting of global agendas (such as the SDGs or the Paris Agreement), among others.

From a different perspective, domestic policies can also involve transnational dynamics, such as ministries seeking technical assistance from the OECD in specific areas or international private consultancies serving as advisors to governments. The special issue seeks to advance scholarship on the transnational policy process, both drawing on and furthering the policy transfer, foreign policy, and global public policies literatures. We expect to provide answers to questions such as: How can the transnational policy process be further theorized? What concepts are useful in analyzing transnational dimensions in policy-making? What are the conceptual challenges in capturing multilevel, multinational, multi-agent processes? Which methodological approaches can be applied to assess policy processes beyond the nation-state? What empirical evidence can be used in such studies? Does the transnational policy process vary across policy subsystems and across space? The special issue welcomes papers addressing these questions with empirical evidence and rigorous analysis.

The deadline for submitting papers is November 3, 2026.

The Revista da CGU (ISSN 2595-668X) is a scientific journal published by the Office of the Comptroller General of Brazil (CGU) and aims to disseminate and promote knowledge and research on the following topics: accountability and anti-corruption policies; internal control and public auditing; governance and risk management; administrative inquiries and disciplinary proceedings; transparency and social control; integrity and ethics; ombudsman services and social participation; and the prevention and fight against corruption. We also publish scientific articles on research methodology applied to these topics.

The guidelines for preparing and submitting manuscripts can be found on the CGU Journal website, at the following address: https://revista.cgu.gov.br/Revista_da_CGU/about/submissions

 

References:

Hadjiisky, Magdaléna; Pal, Leslie A.; Walker, Christopher. Public Policy Transfer: Micro-Dynamics and Macro-Effects. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017.

Hassenteufel, Patrick. De la comparaison internationale à la comparaison transnationale: Les déplacements de la construction d’objets comparatifs en matière de politiques publiques. Revue française de science politique, v. 55, n. 1, p. 113, 2005.

Steiner-Khamsi, Gita. Time in Education Policy Transfer: The Seven Temporalities of Global School Reform. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland, 2025.

Kemmerling, A. (2023). Special Issue: Policy Innovation in the Global South and South–North Policy Learning. Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice, 25(5), 475–486. https://doi.org/10.1080/13876988.2023.2248031

Petiteville, Franck; Andy Smith. “Analyser les politiques publiques internationales”. Revue française de science politique 56, nº 3 (2006): 357.

Porto de Oliveira, Osmany. Processos transnacionais em políticas públicas. Monções: Revista de Relações Internacionais da UFGD, v. 13, n. 26, p. 192–219, 2024.

Morais de Sá e Silva, M., Diaz Vega, E., Davis, J., Chen, M., Joffe, T., & Hale, E. (2026). Transnational density and transnational intensity: Conceptual insights from repatriation and international evacuation policies. International Review of Public Policy, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.4000/15t8

Morais de Sá e Silva, Michelle; Porto de Oliveira, Osmany. Incorporating Time into Policy Transfer Studies: A Comparative Analysis of the Transnational Policy Process of Conditional Cash Transfers and Participatory Budgeting. Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice, v. 25, n. 4, p. 418–438, 4. 2023.

Osorio Gonnet, Cecilia. ¿Aprendiendo o emulando? Cómo se difunden las políticas sociales en América Latina. Santiago: LOM ediciones, 2018.

Radaelli, C. M. Europeanization, Policy Learning, and New Modes of Governance. Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice, v. 10, n. 3, p. 239–254, 2008.

Steiner-Khamsi, G. (Ed.). (2004). The global politics of educational borrowing and lending. Teachers College Press.

Stone, Diane L.; Moloney, Kim. The Oxford Handbook of Global Policy and Transnational Administration. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019.

Weible, Christopher. “Introduction: The Scope and Focus of Policy Process Research and Theory.” In Theories of the Policy Process, edited by Christopher Weible and Paul Sabatier, 4th ed., 1–13. New York, USA: Routledge, 2018.