Time variable in policy transfer analysis: the experience of the higher education program 'Manutención' in Mexico

AutorJorge Puga González
Páginas13-38
Revista Mexicana de Análisis Político y Administración Pública
Departamento de Gestión Pública y Departamento de Estudios Políticos y de Gobierno
Volumen IV, número , julio-septiembre 
Pp. -
Revista Mexicana de Análisis Político y Administración Pública. Universidad de Guanajuato.
13
Fecha de recepción:   de abril de 
Fecha de aceptación:  de dic iembre de 
TIME VARIABLE IN POLICY TRANSFER ANALYSIS: THE EXPERIENCE
OF THE HIGHER EDUCATION PROGRAM “MANUTENCIÓN” IN MEXICO
La variable tiempo en el análisis de las transferencias de políticas
públicas: la experiencia del programa “Manutención” en México
Jorge Puga González
Abstract
In recent years concepts suc h as “lesson-draw-
ing”, “policy diusion” and “policy transfer”
have become relevant in public policy a naly-
sis. As Levi Faur and Vigoda-Gadot point
out, “Policy lessons are increasingly drawn on
a cross-national basis rather than on national
experience” (, p. ). Despite growing
interest in these elds, few researchers have
included a time variable in their analyses.
is means that the results of these research
projects have been limited to ndings at the
moment of diusion or transfer, and have
excluded long-term analysis. is paper ana-
lyzes the “Manutención” program, previously
the National Higher Education Scholarship
Program or Pronabes, which address inequal-
ity in access to higher education in Mexico.
e empirical data shows t hat a more detailed
and consistent explanation of a policy trans-
fer process should consider the time variable,
which is absent in the ana lysis of authors such
as Dolowitz and Marsh (), Marsh and
Sharman () or Richa rd Rose (). I pro-
pose the following arg ument: Including the
time variable will broaden the frame of analysis
of the process of diusion/transfer, resulting in
the consideration of diverse elements that will
help to achieve a richer explanation; these in-
clude the dierent moments in which a transfer
uses information from international sources, the
Resumen
En los últimos años, conceptos como “apren-
dizaje”, “difusión” y “transferencia” han to-
mado relevancia en el análisis de políticas
públicas. Como señala n Levi Faur y Vigoda-
Gadot, “Policy lessons are increasingly drawn
on a cross-national basis rat her than on na-
tional experience” (, p.  ). A pesar del
creciente interés en estos campos de estudio,
pocos investigadores han incluido la variable
tiempo en sus análisis. Esto signic a que los
resultados de sus investigaciones se han li-
mitado a los hallazgos en el momento de la
transferencia o difusión de una política. De
esta forma, se han excluido análisis de largo
plazo. Este artículo analiza el programa “Ma-
nutención”, anteriormente Programa de Beca s
Nacionales para la Educación Superior (Pro-
nabes), y que tiene entre sus principales ob-
jetivos la reducción de las desigualdades en el
acceso a la educación superior en México. La
evidencia empírica señal a que una explicación
más detallada y consistente del proceso de
transferencia resulta de considerar la variable
tiempo. Esta última se encuentran ausente en
los análisis de autores c omo Dolowitz y Marsh
(), Marsh y Sharman () o Richard
Rose (). Partimos del siguiente argumen-
to: Al incluir la variable tiempo se amplía el
marco de análisis del proceso de difusión/trans-
ferencia, como resultado se consideran diversos
Revista Mexicana de Análisis Político y Administración Pública. Universidad de Guanajuato. Volumen IV, número 2, julio-diciembre 2015
14
Between  and  approximately  articles were written, more than half in
the last decade, about the politics of public policies spreading from one government to
another (Graham, Charles R. Shipan and Craig Volden, , p. ). Concepts such
as “lesson-drawing”, “policy diusion” and “policy transfer” have become relevant in
public policy analysis. As Levi Faur and Vigoda-Gadot point out, “policy lessons are
increasingly drawn on a cross-national ba sis rather than on national experience” (,
p.). is body of literature has permitted us to understand in greater detail the way
in which a general understanding of policies, the innovations of policies, programs, ad-
ministrative arra ngements or the ideas of a government or political system ca n be useful
in developing similar practices, pri ncipally in terms of public policy, other governments
or political systems (Dolowitz and Marsh, ; Graham, Shipan and Volden, ;
Richard Rose, ; Marsh y Sharman, ). anks to this research we can speak
of an analytical framework for identifying diverse variables that aect public policy
transfers: key actors; origin of lessons or transfer; what the transfer is about; degrees of
transfer; how, when and why these processes happen, etc.
Despite growing interest in these elds, few researchers have included the time vari-
able in their analyses. A s Mauricio Dussauge points out, “a key limitation of this litera-
ture has been its lack of attention to the ‘temporal’ dimension”. Although some studies
have explored its relevance and some refer to it in order to theorize about the develop-
ment of public policy transfers (Dussauge, , pp. -), the majority of studies
focus exclusively on the variables as mentioned in the last paragraph (e.g. key actors;
degrees of transfer, how and why these processes happen). By excluding the time vari-
able, these studies may exclude important considerations that ca n help us better under-
standing the public policy transfer process. In this article we aim to illustrate this last
assertion. I argue that including the time variable will broaden the frame of analysis of
the process of diusion/transfer, resulting in the consideration of diverse elements that
will help to achieve a richer explanation; these include the dierent moments in which
a transfer uses information from international sources, the process of adoption by the
process of adoption by the recipient institution
reected in the operating rules and the reasons
why the stakeholder s chose the transfer. It should
be noted that the text does not look to arm
the existence of a single form in which the
time variable aects public policy transfers,
but rather seeks to highlight the importance
of this variable in t his eld of research.
Keywords: policy transfer; time; inequality;
higher education; Mexico.
elementos que ayudan a enriquecer la explica-
ción, estos incluyen: los momentos en los cuales
una transferencia ut iliza información de fuentes
internacionales; el pr oceso de adopción, por parte
de las institucione s receptoras, reejado en la s re-
glas de operación, y las razones por las cuales los
actores eligen la tra nsferencia. Cabe señala r que
este texto no busca privilegiar alguna forma
particula r en que la variable tiempo afecta la
transferencia de polític as, lo que se pretende es
subrayar la importancia de esta variable en el
campo de estudio.
Palabras clave: transferencia de política pú-
blicas; variable tiempo; desigualdad; educación
superior; Méx ico.

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