So far, the mainstream policy transfer literature has concentrated on North-North and North–South policy transfer. Few studies investigate South–North transfer. Whenever they do, they focus on... Show moreSo far, the mainstream policy transfer literature has concentrated on North-North and North–South policy transfer. Few studies investigate South–North transfer. Whenever they do, they focus on policies that travelled from South America to OECD countries. Africa and the Middle East remain blind spots in the policy transfer literature. This study addresses this research gap by asking how it was possible for a group of public health experts to transfer Iran's health house policy to the Mississippi Delta, USA. Taking the follow-the-policy approach as a starting point, the study uses expert interviews and a qualitative document analysis to reconstruct how an epistemic community of US-Iranian health specialists made use of Iran's Health House Network to address a health crisis in the Mississippi Delta. Applying the science diplomat concept to the policy literature, I argue that South–North policy transfer was facilitated by science diplomats who promoted transfer despite political and financial difficulties. Show less
Countries routinely translate official statements and state media articles from native languages to English. Over time, these articles provide a window into what each government is trying to... Show moreCountries routinely translate official statements and state media articles from native languages to English. Over time, these articles provide a window into what each government is trying to portray to the world. The FOCUSdata Project provides years’ worth of text and language sentiment ratings for hundreds of thousands of articles from state media and ministry of foreign affairs’ websites from North Korea, China, Russia, and Iran. Information is an important foreign policy tool and national security strategists analyze how it influences the attitudes and behaviors of foreign audiences. This article introduces the FOCUSdata Project and shows how the sentiment data provide unique abilities to analyze Russia's and Iran's reactions to US policies and events and NGO human rights campaigns. Evaluating countries’ official narratives improves understanding of government signals to outside actors, reactions to crises and foreign policy tools, and interests regarding (un)favorable developments. Governments’ sentiment provides unique explanatory power. Show less