Policy Diffusion in the Shadow of the Party-State: China's Integration into the International Anti-Money Laundering Regime

This study scrutinizes the functions and effects of various mechanisms of policy diffusion by taking the hyper-sovereigntist state of the People's Republic of China as a hard test case. It demonstrates that a one-sided focus on the contribution of international or transnational interactions to policy diffusion may lead to severe misinterpretations. Thus, careful control studies of the domestic determinants of policy diffusion are indispensable for clearing up the focus. As the Chinese case reveals, politically orchestrated, tactical adaptation to international regulatory standards can be employed to promote a nation's rise in the global political economy. Policy diffusion does not therefore automatically promote the establishment of credible, shared norms of global governance.