ABSTRACT
The basic contention of this chapter is that though states are certainly challenged by the twin forces of globalization and privatization, they may under some circumstances bypass domestic restrictions and regain power and control through international arrangements. Of this an illustration is how governments regulate the security and privacy of international dataflows through the Group of Eight (G8) and the Council of Europe. In particular, we focus on how states use international cooperation for escaping domestic legal restrictions (so-called ‘policy laundering’), how strategic shifting between policy-making arenas may open windows of opportunity (‘forum shopping’), and how states selectively imitate policy frameworks from other countries (‘blueprinting’).
