ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the question of cross-national variation of the drivers of change and the role of transnational institutions, which raises the question of hypothetical convergence. Welfare states have in fact changed drastically, whether through potential path-departing procedures and/or incremental change. From an historical-diachronic and long-term perspective, many current welfare state reforms may be viewed as marginal adaptations, when from a more synchronic, sociological or political point of view some of these reforms are presented as real or potential turning points. The chapter distinguishes the visible part of the policy reform from the more invisible part of the iceberg. It also distinguishes triggers and drivers of change and then visible and invisible drivers. To conclude, there are drivers for change that may be called international policy exporters and translators. They are successful once they shed any vernacular characteristics of the policy and are able to operate in countries that have different institutional capacities.
