About the Center for International Policy Exchanges

The University of Maryland Center for International Policy Exchanges (CIPE) aims to examine policy ideas from abroad and to bring relevant policy lessons back to the U.S. for the benefit of American researchers and policy makers. The center is directed by Douglas J. Besharov, professor in the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland.

Policy makers in the U.S. are facing significant challenges in areas as diverse as old-age pensions, health care, social welfare, immigration, energy, and the environment. While policy analysis in these fields has been dominated by U.S. researchers, universities, and think tanks, the rest of the world is quickly catching up. Non-U.S. researchers and policy makers have learned from U.S. policies and have raised standards for policy analysis. Moreover, in some areas, such as the reform of public pension systems, other countries have adopted more innovative policies. Hence, the purpose of this project is to examine what U.S. analysts and policy makers can learn from abroad.

Since 2009, CIPE has been organizing a series of cross-national policy exchange conferences, both overseas and in the U.S. While each conference’s topic and format varies, they share a common goal: the collection and presentation of high-quality, policy-oriented papers, followed by publication and dissemination of lessons from abroad in the U.S. Please click here for more information on these conferences. For more information on post-conference publications, including the Oxford University Press International Policy Exchange Series (IPES), as well as peer reviewed journals, please click here.