Abstract
Is being a policy leader an intrinsic characteristic of a state, or does policy leadership dependent
on context and policy at hand? Since Walker’s initial study of policy adoptions in the states,
scholars have used a variety of methods to understand what makes a state a policy leader or
follower. We use role analysis to identify which states play similar roles in latent diffusion
networks and categorize states as leaders and laggards. Using a variety of external and
internal state characteristics, we find policy leadership is stable over time, with states being
much more likely to remain leaders once they become one. Additionally, leadership appears to
be widespread across topic areas rather than states specializing in one area
at the cost of others. We find little evidence policy demands predict leadership. These
findings suggest policy leadership is a stable trait and once patterns of diffusion emerge, they likely persist.