The Diffusion of Policy Innovations through Citizen Initiatives: Advocacy Networks, Policy Frames and the Transmission of Ideas.

this paper I generate a model explaining the factors driving the diffusion of policy ideas and policy innovations across states through direct citizen initiatives. I explore the strength of advocacy networks and the framing of policy ideas to understand why certain innovations diffuse more rapidly through initiatives than others. I argue that the speed of an idea?s diffusion depends both on the resources available to the policy network sponsoring an initiative campaign, and the ability of the policy frame to expand the coalition of interests supporting the innovation. The research model is illustrated by looking to initiatives that diffused across states in four different issue areas; Term Limits, Informed Ballot Notations, Medical Marijuana, and Animal Trapping. I argue that each of these issues represents a distinct pattern of policy diffusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]