Defending the realm: Knowledge networks, regime maintenance and policy transfer

Policy transfer studies tend to take the context of non-coercive transfer for granted, a context that can be summarized as the world polity or neo-liberal global order. That polity and that order have clearly been challenged and destabilized in the last decade, posing an existential threat to conventional mechanisms of policy transfer. The chapter focuses on how the regime is being defended and re-imagined by knowledge networks dedicated to supporting the global order. Two tranches of evidence are presented. The first is a content analysis of key reports and recommendations from two new networks, the T20 (and engagement group of the G20), and the Council on Global Problem-Solving (related to the T20, but distinct). The second is a network analysis of the T20 network of think tanks and related networks engaged in global governance: Council of Councils, World Economic Forum, World Government Summit, and several OECD events that have a broad global policy focus. The content analysis shows a distinctive emphasis on reframing the global order, and a new phase of integration among global think tanks and at least this subset of knowledge networks.