ABSTRACT
In this book I have discussed how, across the world, national policies get synchronized over and over again although there is no world government and although nations jealously protect their independence. Hence policymakers want to stress that their policy decisions are based on their own free will and taken in the interest of the nation. Indeed, policy synchronization does not mean increasing policy convergence. Nations do respond to policies adopted elsewhere, but not uniformly; global trends and ideas are domesticated so that policies are in line with national paths and traditions, or at least they are seen that way.
