scispace - formally typeset
Search or ask a question
Journal ArticleDOI

Policy Narratives and Policy Processes

01 Aug 2011-Policy Studies Journal (Blackwell Publishing Inc)-Vol. 39, Iss: 3, pp 535-561
TL;DR: The role of policy narratives has been largely neglected in ACF literature partially because much of that work has operated outside of traditional social science principles, such as falsification as discussed by the authors, and yet emerging literature under the rubric of Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) demonstrates how the role of Policy narratives in policy processes is studied using the same rigorous social science standards initially set forth by Paul A. Sabatier.
Abstract: The Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) has influenced a generation of policy scholars with its emphasis on causal drivers, testable hypotheses, and falsification. Until recently, the role of policy narratives has been largely neglected in ACF literature partially because much of that work has operated outside of traditional social science principles, such as falsification. Yet emerging literature under the rubric of Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) demonstrates how the role of policy narratives in policy processes is studied using the same rigorous social science standards initially set forth by Paul A. Sabatier. The NPF identifies theories specifying narrative elements and strategies that are likely useful to ACF researchers as classes of variables that have yet to be integrated. Examining this proposition, we provide seven hypotheses related to critical ACF concepts including advocacy coalitions and policy beliefs, policy learning, public opinion, and strategy. Our goal is to stay within the scientific, theoretical, and methodological tradition of the ACF and show how NPF's empirical, hypotheses, and causal driven work on policy narratives identifies theories applicable to ACF research while also offering an independent framework capable of explaining the policy process through the power of policy narratives. In doing so, we believe both ACF and NPF scholarship can contribute to the advancement of our understanding of the policy process.
Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Hayden White as mentioned in this paper put together essays on Droysen, Foucault, Jameson and Ricoeur to give an encompassing account of a problematic issue that has been one of the major concerns of historical studies as well as of many other areas of the human sciences: that of the importance of narrative representation in the description or explanation of the "object" of study of human sciences.
Abstract: Although the chapters that appear in this book have been previously published separately in different places at different times, they have been revised by the author for their publication as a book and are all related to the problem of historical representation. By putting together essays on Droysen, Foucault, Jameson and Ricoeur, Hayden White hasmanaged to give an encompassing account of a problematic issue that has been one of the major concerns of historical studies as well as of many other areas of the human sciences: that of the importance of narrative representation in the description or explanation of the “object” of study of the human sciences. Although the authors mentioned deal with this subject in different ways, White finds in them common characteristics which confirm the point made by him that historical narratives are, from a semiological perspective, concerned with the production of meanings.

811 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A Quarter Century of the Advocacy Coalition Framework: An Introduction to the Special Issue as mentioned in this paper is an excellent overview of the advocacy coalition framework and its history and its role in advocacy.
Abstract: A Quarter Century of the Advocacy Coalition Framework : An Introduction to the Special Issue

296 citations


Cites background from "Policy Narratives and Policy Proces..."

  • ...Another criticism centered on the applicability of the ACF to subsystems outside of the United States (Sabatier, 1998)....

    [...]

  • ...…Chicago/United States Flood management policy, Hungary Montpetit (2011) Montreal University/Canada Biotechnology policy, Europe, and United States Shanahan, Jones, and McBeth (2011) Montana State University, Harvard University, Idaho State University/United States Not an empirical application…...

    [...]

  • ...Participating authors come from Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States....

    [...]

  • ...The International, Geographic, and Substantive Scope of the Compilation University/Country Policy Subsystem Description Henry (2011) West Virginia University/United States Transportation policy, California, United States Matti and Sandström (2011) Luleå University of Technology/Sweden Carnivore management, Sweden Pierce (2011) University of Colorado Denver/United States Foreign policy on Israel, United States Ingold (2011) University of Bern/Switzerland Climate policy, Switzerland Nohrstedt (2011) Uppsala University/Sweden Intelligence policy, Sweden Albright (2011) Loyola University Chicago/United States Flood management policy, Hungary Montpetit (2011) Montreal University/Canada Biotechnology policy, Europe, and United States Shanahan, Jones, and McBeth (2011) Montana State University, Harvard University, Idaho State University/United States Not an empirical application but devoted to theory development historical analysis of coalitions involved in United States policy on the creation of Israel....

    [...]

  • ...Substantively, three focus on subsystems in the United States, three on subsystems in Europe, and one on 17 subsystems across Canada, Europe, and the United States....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors examined the role of policy narratives in the policy process and examined the extent to which a coalition tells the same story across narrative elements, narrative strategies, and policy beliefs in a case study of wind turbines off Nantucket.
Abstract: Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) is a new and maturing theory of the policy process that takes a systematic, scientific approach to understanding the social construction of policy realities. As such, NPF serves as a bridge between postpositivists, who assert that public policymaking is contextualized through narratives and social construction, and positivists, who contend that legitimacy is grounded in falsifiable claims. The central questions of NPF are: What is the empirical role of policy narratives in the policy process and do policy narratives influence policy outcomes? First, the contributions of NPF scholarship at three levels of analysis—micro, meso, and macro—are examined. Next, necessary conditions of a policy narrative are specified, accompanied by detailed discussion of the narrative components: narrative elements, narrative strategies, and policy beliefs. Finally, an empirical illustration of NPF—a case study of Cape Wind's proposal to install wind turbines off Nantucket—is presented. Although intercoalitional differences have long been studied in the NPF scholarship, this is the first study to examine intracoalitional cohesion or the extent to which a coalition tells the same story across narrative elements, narrative strategies, and policy beliefs. NPF is a new approach to the study of the policy process that offers empirical pathways to better speculating the role of narrative in the policy process.

216 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: For instance, this paper found that when respondents are exposed to culturally congruent stories, respondent organizational patterns are more likely to mirror the story, whereas when they were exposed to diverse stories, respondents' organizational patterns were more similar to the story.
Abstract: In 2006, Adam J. Berinsky and Donald R. Kinder published findings in the Journal of Politics that demonstrated that framing news as a story influences how individuals cognitively organize concepts and information. The study presented here moves forward in this tradition. This research combines samples obtained in the springs of 2009 and 2010 while conducting online experiments. In these experiments, slightly over 2,000 respondents are asked to organize concepts presented in one of three culturally nuanced stories about climate change or where information is presented as a list. Hierarchical cluster analysis indicates that when respondents are exposed to culturally congruent stories, respondent organizational patterns are more likely to mirror the story. We discuss the implications of these findings.

158 citations

Book
27 Aug 2015
TL;DR: This paper analyzed the role of dominant narratives in US national security debates from the 1930s to the 2000s, and showed how these narratives have shaped the policies pursued by the United States.
Abstract: Dominant narratives - from the Cold War consensus to the War on Terror - have often served as the foundation for debates over national security. Weaving current challenges, past failures and triumphs, and potential futures into a coherent tale, with well-defined characters and plot lines, these narratives impart meaning to global events, define the boundaries of legitimate politics, and thereby shape national security policy. However, we know little about why or how such narratives rise and fall. Drawing on insights from diverse fields, Narrative and the Making of US National Security offers novel arguments about where these dominant narratives come from, how they become dominant, and when they collapse. It evaluates these arguments carefully against evidence drawn from US debates over national security from the 1930s to the 2000s, and shows how these narrative dynamics have shaped the policies pursued by the United States.

156 citations

References
More filters
Book
01 Jan 1993
TL;DR: Baumgartner and Jones as mentioned in this paper extended their work to illuminate the workings of democracies beyond the United States and pointed out that short-term, single-issue analysis cast public policy too narrowly as the result of cozy and dependable arrangements among politicians, interest groups, and the media.
Abstract: When "Agendas and Instability in American Politics" appeared fifteen years ago, offering a profoundly original account of how policy issues rise and fall on the national agenda, the "Journal of Politics" predicted that it would 'become a landmark study of public policy making and American politics'. That prediction proved true, and in this long-awaited second edition, Frank R. Baumgartner and Bryan D. Jones refine their influential argument and expand it to illuminate the workings of democracies beyond the United States. The authors retain all the substance of their contention that short-term, single-issue analysis cast public policy too narrowly as the result of cozy and dependable arrangements among politicians, interest groups, and the media. Baumgartner and Jones provide a different interpretation by taking the long view of several issues - including nuclear energy, urban affairs, smoking, and auto safety - to demonstrate that bursts of rapid, unpredictable policy change punctuate the patterns of stability more frequently associated with government. Featuring a new introduction and two additional chapters, this updated edition ensures that their findings will remain a touchstone of policy studies for many years to come.

3,911 citations

Book
01 Jan 1982
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the structure of complex systems: Causal ordering - causality in economic models causal ordering, comparative statics, and near decomposability, causality and model abstraction, simulating large systems - simulation of large-scale systems by aggregation prediction and prescription in systems modelling.
Abstract: Part 1 The structure of complex systems: Causal ordering - causality in economic models causal ordering, comparative statics, and near decomposability, ( with Y Iwasaki) causality and model abstraction, (with Y Iwasaki) simulating large systems - simulation of large-scale systems by aggregation prediction and prescription in systems modelling Part 2 The advance of information technology: the rural-urban population balance again the impact of electronic communications on organizations the steam engine and the computer - what makes technology revolutionary managing in an information-rich world on the alienation of workers and management Part 3 Motivation and the theory of the firm: a mechanism for social selection and successful altruism organizations and markets altruism and economics - a summary statement altruism and economics - social implications Part 4 Behaviourial economics and bounded rationality: behaviourial economics - preface to "Handbook of behaviourial economics" behaviourial economics bounded rationality satisfying empirical methods in economics - behaviourial research - theory and public policy methodological foundations of economics preface to "La theorie moderne de l'enterprise - l'approche institutionelle initial and boundary conditions in economic theory - on the behaviourial and rational foundations of economic dynamics rationality in psychology and economics the state of economic science - the failure of armchair economics why economists disagree the state of economic science economic reasoning in words and pictures - effect of mode of data presentation on reasoning about economic markets (with HJM Tabachneck)

3,043 citations

Book
26 Aug 1993
TL;DR: The Advocacy Coalition Framework as discussed by the authors has been used to measure longitudinal change in elite beliefs using content analysis of public documents. But it has not yet been applied to the analysis of Canadian education.
Abstract: * The Study of Public Policy Processes Hank C Jenkins-Smith and Paul A Sabatier The Advocacy Coalition Framework * Policy Change over a Decade or More P A Sabatier * The Dynamics of Policy-Oriented Learning H C Jenkins-Smith and P A Sabatier Qualitative Case Studies Of Policy Change And Learning * An Advocacy Coalition Approach to Change in Canadian Education Hanne B Mawhinney * Competing Advocacy Coalitions, Policy Evolution, and Airline Deregulation Anthony E Brown and Joseph Stewart Jr * California Water Politics: Explaining Policy Change in a Cognitively Polarized Subsystem John F Munro * Managing Technological Change in Federal Communications Policy: The Role of Industry Advisory Groups Richard P Barke Quantitative Analyses Of Policy Change * The Politics of Offshore Energy: Empirically Testing the Advocacy Coalition Framework H C Jenkins-Smith and Gilbert K St Clair * From Vague Consensus to Clearly Differentiated Coalitions: Environmental Policy at Lake Tahoe, 19641985 P A Sabatier and Anne M Brasher Conclusion * The Advocacy Coalition Framework: Assessment, Revisions, and Implications for Scholars and Practitioners P A Sabatier and H C Jenkins-Smith Methodological Appendix * Measuring Longitudinal Change in Elite Beliefs Using Content Analysis of Public Documents H C Jenkins-Smith and P A Sabatier *

2,821 citations

Book
09 Sep 1999
TL;DR: Theories of the Policy Process (Theory of Policy Process) as mentioned in this paper provides a forum for the creators or scholars with deep expertise in, the most established and widely used theoretical frameworks to present the basic propositions, empirical evidence, latest updates, and promising directions for future research.
Abstract: Since the first edition published in 1999 with editor Paul Sabatier, Theories of the Policy Process has served as the quintessential gateway to the field of policy process research for students, scholars and practitioners alike. This enduring and well-regarded volume provides a forum for the creators of, or scholars with deep expertise in, the most established and widely used theoretical frameworks to present the basic propositions, empirical evidence, latest updates, and promising directions for future research. This brief but comprehensive volume covers such classics as Multiple Streams (Zahariadis), Punctuated Equilibrium (Jones et al), Advocacy Coalition Framework (Jenkins-Smith et al.), Institutional Analysis and Development Framework (Ostrom et al.), Policy Diffusion (Berry & Berry), and Social Construction and Policy Design (Schneider et al). This thoroughly updated third edition, with new editor Christopher M. Weible, includes a new introduction on the trajectories and needs of public policy research and two new chapters-- Policy Feedback (Mettler and SoRelle) and Narrative Policy Framework (McBeth et al). A revised chapter presents a comparative analysis and evaluation of the frameworks included in this edition (Cairney & Heikkila), and a new conclusion looks at future directions and emerging areas in the field.

2,666 citations


"Policy Narratives and Policy Proces..." refers background or methods in this paper

  • ...The Narrative Policy Framework has been under development since 2004 in response to criticisms of postpositive approaches in public policy as being “largely nonfalsifiable” (Sabatier, 1999a, p. 11; Sabatier, 2000)....

    [...]

  • ...The publication of the first edition of his edited book, Theories of the Policy Process (Sabatier, 1999a) sparked a controversy when the volume did not include policy work in social construction or postpositivism, both schools of thought which are attracted to narrative (see Jones & McBeth, 2010, pp. 331–33)....

    [...]

  • ...The publication of the first edition of his edited book, Theories of the Policy Process (Sabatier, 1999a) sparked a controversy when the volume did not include policy work in social construction or postpositivism, both schools of thought which are attracted to narrative (see Jones & McBeth, 2010,…...

    [...]

Trending Questions (1)
What are some of the criticisms of the MSF's approach to policy processes?

The provided paper does not mention any criticisms of the MSF's approach to policy processes.