Abstract: Policy practice is rooted in the specific problems of the times. Policy implementation is a hot and difficult issue in the policy process of contemporary China, and many insightful research results have been accumulated in China. However, policy researchers can better understand the unique position and problems of policy implementation in their own country from a comparative perspective. The study of policy implementation in foreign countries has a history of 50 years, and has gone through three generations of theoretical development, thus forming many views. In order to promote the research on policy implementation in China and to facilitate the dialogue and exchange between theories at home and abroad, this paper summarizes the development process and main viewpoints of policy implementation research abroad, and presents the basic theories and recent progress of policy implementation research, with a view to providing a reference for the policy implementation research in China.