IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/palcom/v12y2025i1d10.1057_s41599-025-05433-3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Decoding policy mobility through a rhizomatic lens: spatiotemporal folding and power topology in translocal governance

Author

Listed:
  • Jie Guo

    (School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-sen University
    Guangzhou Institute of Geography, Guangdong Academy of Sciences)

  • Hong‘ou Zhang

    (Guangzhou Institute of Geography, Guangdong Academy of Sciences)

Abstract

This paper proposes an analytical framework to deconstruct the complexity of policy governance in globalization. Challenging traditional models’ static assumptions and linear diffusion narratives, it advances a dynamic perspective rooted in Deleuze’s rhizomatic theory and topological principles, conceptualizing policy formation as contingent intersections and topological emergence among cross-local knowledge nodes. Three analytical innovations transcend “global-local” binaries: (1) Rhizomatic evolution replaces linear transfer, emphasizing nonlinear knowledge connectivity and epistemic mutations across nodes; (2) Spatiotemporal folding reveals policy innovation emerge in the overlap of “near and far” policy references and historical sedimentation and future projections; (3) Topological power analysis uncovers entangled explicit/implicit power structures in global policy governance networks. By tracing policies’ processual emergence and the spatiotemporal dynamics behind it, the study clarifies the “geography of power relations” behind global knowledge production while offering a tool for navigating “global flows”—“local practices” dialectics. This broadens the analytical scope of policy mobility research and offers a alternative perspective for tackling policy governance challenges.

Suggested Citation

  • Jie Guo & Hong‘ou Zhang, 2025. "Decoding policy mobility through a rhizomatic lens: spatiotemporal folding and power topology in translocal governance," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-8, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:12:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-025-05433-3
    DOI: 10.1057/s41599-025-05433-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41599-025-05433-3
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41599-025-05433-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mauricio I. Dussauge-Laguna, 2012. "On The Past and Future of Policy Transfer Research: Benson and Jordan Revisited," Political Studies Review, Political Studies Association, vol. 10(3), pages 313-324, September.
    2. Jamie Peck & Nik Theodore, 2012. "Follow the Policy: A Distended Case Approach," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 44(1), pages 21-30, January.
    3. Bennett, Colin J., 1991. "What Is Policy Convergence and What Causes It?," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 21(2), pages 215-233, April.
    4. Glen Searle & Sébastien Darchen, 2023. "New Urban Sustainability Policies: Deleuze and Local Innovation Versus Policy Mobility," Planning Theory & Practice, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(1), pages 133-139, January.
    5. Jennifer Robinson, 2015. "‘Arriving At’ Urban Policies: The Topological Spaces of Urban Policy Mobility," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(4), pages 831-834, July.
    6. Eugene McCann & Kevin Ward, 2012. "Policy Assemblages, Mobilities and Mutations: Toward a Multidisciplinary Conversation," Political Studies Review, Political Studies Association, vol. 10(3), pages 325-332, September.
    7. Eugene McCann & Kevin Ward, 2015. "Thinking Through Dualisms in Urban Policy Mobilities," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(4), pages 828-830, July.
    8. Kevin Ward, 2006. "‘Policies in Motion’, Urban Management and State Restructuring: The Trans‐Local Expansion of Business Improvement Districts," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 54-75, March.
    9. Astrid Wood, 2015. "Multiple Temporalities of Policy Circulation: Gradual, Repetitive and Delayed Processes of BRT Adoption in South African Cities," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(3), pages 568-580, May.
    10. Diane Stone, 2012. "Transfer and translation of policy," Policy Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(6), pages 483-499.
    11. Matthew Lane, 2022. "Policy Mobility and Postcolonialism: The Geographical Production of Urban Policy Territories in Lusaka and Sacramento," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 112(5), pages 1350-1368, June.
    12. Harriet Bulkeley, 2006. "Urban Sustainability: Learning from Best Practice?," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 38(6), pages 1029-1044, June.
    13. Cristina Temenos & Tom Baker, 2015. "Enriching Urban Policy Mobilities Research," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(4), pages 841-843, July.
    14. Ida Andersson & Ian R Cook, 2019. "Conferences, award ceremonies and the showcasing of ‘best practice’: A case study of the annual European Week of Regions and Cities in Brussels," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 37(8), pages 1361-1379, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. I-Chun Catherine Chang, 2017. "Failure matters: Reassembling eco-urbanism in a globalizing China," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 49(8), pages 1719-1742, August.
    2. Enora Robin & Laura Nkula-Wenz, 2021. "Beyond the success/failure of travelling urban models: Exploring the politics of time and performance in Cape Town’s East City," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 39(6), pages 1252-1273, September.
    3. Tom Baker & Cristina Temenos, 2015. "Urban Policy Mobilities Research: Introduction to a Debate," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(4), pages 824-827, July.
    4. Aaron Malone, 2019. "(Im)mobile and (Un)successful? A policy mobilities approach to New Orleans’s residential security taxing districts," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 37(1), pages 102-118, February.
    5. Sergio Montero & Gianpaolo Baiocchi, 2022. "A posteriori comparisons, repeated instances and urban policy mobilities: What ‘best practices’ leave behind," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 59(8), pages 1536-1555, June.
    6. Colin Lorne, 2024. "Repoliticising national policy mobilities: Resisting the Americanization of universal healthcare," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 42(2), pages 231-249, March.
    7. Haupt, Wolfgang & Eckersley, Peter & Kern, Kristine, 2021. "Transfer und Skalierung von lokaler Klimapolitik: Konzeptionelle Ansätze, Voraussetzungen und Potenziale," IRS Dialog 1/2021, Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space (IRS).
    8. Emma Colven, 2020. "Thinking beyond success and failure: Dutch water expertise and friction in postcolonial Jakarta," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 38(6), pages 961-979, September.
    9. Håvard Haarstad & Stina Ellevseth Oseland, 2017. "Historicizing Urban Sustainability: The Shifting Ideals Behind Forus Industrial Park, Norway," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(5), pages 838-854, September.
    10. Keavy McFadden & Robin Wright, 2023. "Social reproduction and public finance: A comparative study of TIF in California and Chicago," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 55(8), pages 2108-2127, November.
    11. Sally Weller, 2017. "Fast Parallels? Contesting Mobile Policy Technologies," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(5), pages 821-837, September.
    12. Harsh Mittal & Arpit Shah, 2022. "Discursive politics and policy (im)mobility: Metro-TOD policies in India," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 40(2), pages 463-480, March.
    13. Anthony M Levenda, 2019. "Mobilizing smart grid experiments: Policy mobilities and urban energy governance," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 37(4), pages 634-651, June.
    14. Gabriel Silvestre & Guillermo Jajamovich, 2021. "The role of mobile policies in coalition building: The Barcelona model as coalition magnet in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro (1989–1996)," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(11), pages 2310-2328, August.
    15. Napong Tao Rugkhapan, 2021. "Learn from elsewhere: A relational geography of policy learning in Bangkok’s Creative District," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 53(8), pages 1952-1973, November.
    16. Luke Fairbanks, 2019. "Policy mobilities and the sociomateriality of U.S. offshore aquaculture governance," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 37(5), pages 849-867, August.
    17. Tim Legrand & Diane Stone, 2021. "Governing global policy: what IPE can learn from public policy? [Review article: What is policy convergence and what causes it?]," Policy and Society, Darryl S. Jarvis and M. Ramesh, vol. 40(4), pages 484-501.
    18. Chapman Alexandra, 2018. "Playing catch-up? Adult social care in Northern Ireland," Administration, Sciendo, vol. 66(3), pages 99-115, August.
    19. Chiara Valli & Kristian Olesen & Peter Parker, 2024. "Solutions in search of a problem: Opening policy windows for Business Improvement Districts in the Nordic countries," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 42(6), pages 1064-1081, September.
    20. Jennifer Robinson, 2015. "‘Arriving At’ Urban Policies: The Topological Spaces of Urban Policy Mobility," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(4), pages 831-834, July.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:12:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-025-05433-3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.nature.com/palcomms/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.