In light of discordance over the impact of globalization and internationalization on patterns of domestic policymaking, this paper explores alternative explanations for tendencies toward policy convergence and divergence. In examining the disjointed patterns of government retrenchment in state-assisted economic sectors in Canada, the concept of variable confluence is developed to explain the uneven impact of international free-trade agreements on affected subsystems. At the heart of variable confluence is the notion that causation is not static but is rather sensitive to matters of timing and sequence. Employing mixed-methods, an analysis of these dynamics suggests that exogenously imposed rules may be strategically navigated as domestic actors’ interpretations and understandings of rules —namely their reach, comprehensiveness, their benefits and the extent to which they are binding— change over time. Findings relevant to contemporary understandings of exogenous influence, policy feedback and critical junctures receive emphasis.
