Explaining Policy Convergence in Europe: A Research Note

Authors

Amanda Michalski
Brent F. Nelsen
James L. Guth

Volume Number

45

Issue Number

1

Abstract

In an effort to increase the attractiveness and competitiveness of the European Higher Education system, education ministers from 29 European countries signed the Bologna Declaration in 1999. The Declaration called for a unified European Higher Education A rea (EHEA) to be created by 2010. The Bologna Process is the collection o f policies adopted by 47 countries to create the EHEA, and it has become one of the best-known examples of cross-culturalpolicy convergence. Some participating states have fully implemented Bologna polities while others have not, producing different degrees of convergence. This paper, using data from the 2009 Bologna Stocktaking Report, explores several theories of policy convergence and determines through multivariate analysis that modernisation, political globalisation and culture of compliance are more powerfulpredictors of convergence than measures of Europeanisation.

Recommended Citation

Michalski, Amanda; Nelsen, Brent F.; and Guth, James L. (2017) "Explaining Policy Convergence in Europe: A Research Note," Journal of Political Science: Vol. 45: No. 1, Article 4.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.coastal.edu/jops/vol45/iss1/4