Explaining transgender policy change: Policy momentum in Canada and Australia
提出“政策动量”理论框架，通过对比加拿大（2017年）和澳大利亚（2013年）的国家人权政策制定，解释跨国跨性别政策变革的时机差异，对公共政策和性别研究学者有参考价值。
Abstract Western democracies are experiencing a widespread shift towards greater recognition of transgender rights in public policy, yet the timing of change differs across states. To explain this variation, I present a novel theoretical framework called “policy momentum.” Unlike existing work on policy diffusion, which typically emphasizes domestic or international processes, I theorize how the combined pressure from each level creates the conditions for policy change to occur. Empirically, I contrast the creation of national human rights policies to protect transgender individuals in Canada (2017) and Australia (2013). Using process‐tracing and within‐case analyses, and drawing on elite interviews, primary documents, and Hansard records, I demonstrate the decisive interaction of subnational legislative changes with an emerging global norm to produce transgender policy change. This paper thus contributes to our understanding of LGBTQ+ public policy while also providing a framework for explaining the conditions for cross‐national policy change more broadly.