Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>This chapter positions state policy diffusion as a racialized policymaking process. It begins by reflecting on the problems that emerge from omitting considerations of race in state policy diffusion studies. While the proliferation of diffusion studies in recent years has contributed greatly to the collective understanding of state policymaking, the near-categorical failure to view these processes through a racialized lens threatens to undermine many of the theoretical and empirical advances made over decades of otherwise impactful work. To remedy this, the chapter engages in an exercise that contrasts deracialized analysis to one that incorporates variables designed to capture the impacts the presence and political power of racially subjugated groups have on innovation and diffusion processes. The analysis shows just how responsive states are to alterations in the racial policy environment. It also underscores how a failure to include racial analysis biases existing findings that ground our understanding of state policy change.</jats:p>