Media in the Policy Process: Using Framing and Narratives to Understand Policy Influences

Policy scholarship has long sought to understand the role of knowledge and information in the policy process. Of the actors, institutions, and resources involved in shaping policy processes and outcomes, media and narratives have been incorporated into empirical policy scholarship and theories with varying success. The Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) is a framework through which scholars can bring analysis of narratives into studies of policy making. The NPF moves the field forward in understanding the role of narratives, communication, and stakeholder beliefs in the policy process, while at the same time striving for theoretical rigor. We embed the discussion of frames and narratives in the NPF to provide an empirical and theoretical cohesion to our understanding of media and public policy and then provide a brief empirical example of how such an integration may prove fruitful for policy scholars.     

Policy Narratives across Two Languages: A Comparative Study using the Narrative Policy Framework

The Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) focuses on the role of narratives, drawing from a rich scholarship in narrative, language, and culture. Despite the understanding that narratives are constructions of language and that narrative construction differs across languages, NPF studies have not focused on policy narratives in languages other than English. Language characteristics of narratives are important to assess the stability of policy narratives when there are multiple dominant languages in a political system. This study investigates the use of narrative elements in policy narratives in agricultural biotechnology policy in India across Hindi and English media coverage to examine the NPF assumption that narratives have generalizable narrative elements irrespective of variation in linguistic context and, specifically, tests the transportability of narrative elements. Findings validate the transportability of narrative elements in Hindi narratives, indicate variation in the use of narrative elements over time, and have implications for applying NPF across languages.     

A Bridge in Flux: Narratives and the Policy Process in the Pacific Northwest

Policy narratives play an important role in the policy process. Often policy narratives originate from advocacy coalitions seeking increased support from the public for their policy stance. Although most Narrative Policy Framework studies have focused on national policy issues, this study examines a state and local economic development project by exploring the policy narratives from competing coalitions in favor and opposed to the project. Specifically, in the Portland–Vancouver area of Oregon and Washington, local policy discussions have been dominated by a proposal for a new mega bridge on Interstate‐5 connecting the two cities across the Columbia River. A new government agency (CRC—Columbia River Crossing) was formed for the implementation of this project. Upon approval of a proposal, CRC experienced heavy backlash from citizens, local businesses, community leaders, and other stakeholders leading to the formation of two competing coalitions in opposition and support of the bridge. This study, using content analysis of 370 public documents, finds that competing coalitions utilize policy narratives in strategic ways to characterize the opposing coalition, themselves, and other actors in the policy subsystem. This study also suggests that the strength and cohesion of a coalition's narrative contributes to its policy success and the winning/losing status of a coalition potentially determines the types of strategies they will use. Last, this study introduces and tests a new narrative strategy called the impotent shift testing a coalition's strategic use of the victim character.     

Regulation is evil: An application of narrative policy analysis to regulatory debate in New Zealand

Using findings from research on the implementation of telephone number portability in New Zealand, we demonstrate how narrative analysis can account for how particular influence stories, or policy narratives, come to dominate the policy process. In this paper, we extend the concept of metanarrative, which to date has been interpreted as a story that policy makers use to recast policy problems. Policy metanarratives are shown to have strong pre-figurative effects and to be more pervasive than previously recognised.     

Strategic use of evidence in state-level policymaking: matching evidence type to legislative stage

Although interest in research utilization in the policy process has grown, how advocates strategically deploy different types of evidence to influence lawmakers remains not well understood. In this paper, we draw on the Advocacy Coalition Framework and the Narrative Policy Framework to show how various types of evidence—from empirical findings to personal anecdotes—were utilized by advocates during the 2 years leading to the passage of California’s historic 2010 law to extend foster care. The result was a generous and flexible entitlement policy passed with bipartisan support in the context of a recession, a state budget deficit, and an ambivalent governor. We find that leaders of a diverse advocacy coalition strategically showcased different types of evidence at specific moments in the legislative process. Each evidence type can be tied to a specific narrative element and strategy. Advocates first used research evidence to convince lawmakers of the policy’s effectiveness, then used professional expertise and benefit-cost analysis to convince them it would come at an acceptable cost, and finally used personal narratives to motivate them to act. We conclude that though benefit-cost analyses play an integral role in policymaking during a time of austerity, advocacy coalitions may still benefit from personal stories that lend emotional potency and urgency.     

Management Sciences and Policy Sciences

Policy Sciences are making challenging “revolutionary” claims, and these are critically reviewed. Note is taken of the limited domain of the field, to public policy making, and the advisability for such a basis for differentiating this professional subgroup is questioned. There is an attempt to distinguish between the various schools and antecedents of Policy Sciences. In this paper a technological perspective is taken. What are the differentiating skills and technologies Policy Sciences promises to bring to its clients? Is intersector awareness, interdisciplinarity, and the application of the behavioral sciences a Policy Sciences monopoly or the natural development of systems technologies in a changing environment? The negative mode of comparison of Policy Sciences with Systems Analysis and Systems Engineering as a basis for building this new profession is criticized as inadequate and misleading. An analogy is made, between the checkered history of Operations Research, and Policy Sciences, with the implication that many of the same mistakes are being made. Policy Science perspectives that exclusively emphasize public top level policy making are criticized as too limited. The lack of and need for Policy Science analysis of the strategies for attempting to introduce and integrate Policy Sciences into institutions is pointed out. The potential contributions and role of Policy Sciences are analyzed and related to existing and developing Management Science perspectives. A plea is made for unity in place of competition.     

Narratives of Aging and the Human Rights of Older Persons

Amid intensifying calls for an international convention on the rights of older persons, it is timely and important to examine the different narratives of aging that are informing and shaping debates on the human rights of older persons and to explore their implications. The article examines the dominant and competing narratives of aging emerging from public policy and gerontological studies, most notably, aging as a crisis or burden; aging as pathology; conceptions of successful, productive or active aging; and finally, aging and vulnerability. The implications of each of these narratives are analysed. The article then explores the extent to which these different narratives are taken up or challenged in advocacy for an international convention on the rights of older persons. The aim of the discussion is to make explicit and interrogate the narratives of aging which advocacy for a new convention on the rights of older persons may be perpetuating or challenging.     

Enhancing Precision and Clarity in the Study of Policy Narratives: An Analysis of Climate and Air Issues in Delhi,India

The study of policy narratives is challenged by inconsistencies and a need for more precise definitions and measurements. The goals of this article are to build precision and clarity in the study of policy narratives by developing a network‐based approach—the ego‐alter dyad—for coding characters and their interactions around a policy issue and then to illustrate this approach in the analysis of air and climate issues in Delhi, India. The empirical results show that (1) the same actors are often heroes and villains, (2) heroes and villains are associated with different actions but with similar victims or beneficiaries, (3) narrators differ in their propensity to tell hero‐heavy or villain‐heavy policy narratives, and (4) the proportion of hero‐heavy or villain‐heavy policy narratives changes over time and differs across subtopics. The article concludes with a research agenda for further theoretical and methodological advancement in studying policy narratives.     

From Gastarbeiter to “Ausländische Mitbürger”: Postnational Citizenship and In-Between Identities in Berlin

The recent condition of complexity within nation-states, triggered by the visibility of transnational communities and by the political demands of cultural identities, indicates that the traditional tools of national narratives with respect to articulations of identity and membership are exhausted. The debate on postnationalism suggests that unbounding citizenship from its national narrative would create the conditions in which the contentious issues of cultural recognition and representation could be resolved without resorting to the narrow confines of national narratives. This paper argues that that even though the postnationalism debate makes an important contribution in terms of indicating alternative forms of citizenship that are not tied to national discourse, it seriously underestimates the deep political connection between citizenship regimes and national narratives. By separating citizenship from national discourse, the postnationalism debate overlooks the ways in which transnational, ethnic, religious, sexual and other cultural identities interact with national narratives to negotiate their citizenship rights. More importantly, this assumed separation of citizenship rights from national discourse fails to acknowledge that the particular forms of citizenship rights, such as political representation and cultural recognition, and how they are exercised, are intertwined with the cultural hegemony of national narratives. Finally, the tension between citizenship regimes and national narratives provides the political space within which formerly marginalized groups and identities can invoke otherness to negotiate the cultural boundaries of nation-states. In other words, the politics of citizenship invoked by marginalized groups and identities is not simply about legal claims but also includes political attempts to reconfigure national narratives.     

REVIEWS

Books reviewed in this article:
Review Essay Interpretive Policy Analysis Frank Fischer
Review Essay Interpretive Policy Analysis Maarten A Hajer & Hendrik Wagenaar eds
Review Essay Interpretive Policy Analysis Dvora Yanow
Review Essay Interpretive Policy Analysis Dvora Yanow
Australia's Choices: Options for a Prosperous and Fair Society Ian Marsh ed.
Government Failure: A Primer in Public Choice Gordon Tullick, Arthur Seldon and Gordon L Brady
Civil Service Systems in Anglo-American Countries John Halligan ed.
The Decline of the Tea Lady: Management for Dissidents Jenny Stewart     

Civic Engagement and Public Policy Making in America

Larry N. Gerston, Public Policymaking in a Democratic Society: A Guide to Civic Engagement
Thomas A. Birkland, An Introduction to the Policy Process: Theories, Concepts, and Models of Public Policy Making
Mark E. Rushefsky, Public Policy in the United States: At the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century     

POLICY LEARNING

The Comparative History of Public Policy. Edited by Francis G. Castles Trends in British Public Policy: Do Governments Make any Difference? Brian W. Hogwood Public Policy in Britain. Martin Burch & Bruce Wood     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed in this article: Governance Stories Mark Bevir and R.A.W. Rhodes Administering Welfare Reform: International Transformations in Welfare Governance Paul Henman and Menno Fenger (eds) Health Policy and Politics: Networks, Ideas and Power Jenny Lewis The Longest Decade George Megalogenis Globalisation, Policy Transfer and Policy Research Institutes Stella Ladi     

Book Review

Book reviewed:
Carsten Daugbjerg, Policy Network under Pressure. Pollution Control, Policy Reform and the Power of Farmers     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article:
Richard Rose: Ordinary People in Public Policy: A Behavioural Analysis .
Bernt Aardal & Henry Valen: Velgere, partier og politisk avstand (Voters, parties, and political distance) .
Ebba Dohlman: National Welfare and Economic Interdependence: The Case of Sweden's Foreign Trade Policy .
David Arter: Politics and Policy-Making in Finland .
Arthur Gould: Conflict and Control in Welfare Policy.
Carol M. Mueller (ed.): The Politics of the Gender Gap. The Social Construction of Political Influence .
Christopher Coker: Reflections on American Foreign Policy Since 1945 .     

Wealth Taxes: Stories, Metaphors and Public Attitudes

Wealth taxes are currently high on the policy agenda in Britain. These taxes will not be political sustainable without public support. However, evidence exists that indicates substantial public opposition to wealth taxes. For example, inheritance tax appears to provoke hostility among the public. Some observers have suggested that the way that wealth taxes are presented - particularly using stories and narratives - could enhance public support. This paper summarises focus group evidence on this suggestion. I report that using narratives and stories can have an impact, although this should not be overstated and much depends on how the narratives are shaped.     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article:
F. A. LARCOMBE, The Advancement of Local Government in New South Wales 1906 to the Present .
HUGH V. EMY, The Politics of Australian Democracy .
BERNARD SCHAFFER and ELIZABETH O'KEEFE, People and Agencies
D. M. FENBURY, Practice Without Policy: genesis of local government in Papua New Guinea .
R. G. S. BROWN, Reorganising the National Health Service: A Case Study of Administrative Change .
HUGH V. EMY, Public Policy: Problems and Paradoxes .
WOLFGANG KASPER, Issues in Economic Policy .
I. K. F. BIRCH, Forming Australia's Education Policy .     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviews in this article:
Eleanor P. Wolf, Trial and Error: The Detroit School Segregation Case .
Robert A. Dentler and Marvin B. Scon, Schools on Trial: An Inside Account .
John Brigham and Don W. Brown (eds.) Policy Implementation .
George C. Edwards III, Implementing Public Policy .
Robert T. Nakamura and Frank Smallwood. The Politics of Policy Implementation .
Randall B. Ripley and Grace A. Franklin, Bureaucracy and Policy Implementation .
Laurence Rutter, The Essential Community: Local Government in the Year 2000 .
Hadley Arkes, The Philosopher in the City: The Moral Dimensions of Urban Politics .     

Book Reviews

Advice and Consent: The Development of the Policy Sciences. By PETER DE LEON.
The Reach and Grasp of Policy Analysis: Comparative Views of the Craft. By RICHARD HOFFERBERT.
Governing Education: A Sociology of Policy Since 1945. By ANDREW McPHERSON and CHARLES D. RAAB.
Privatising the World. By OLIVER LETWIN.
La France Face au Sud: Le Miroir Brise. By JACQUES ADDA and MARIE-CLAUDE SMOUTS.
The President and Civil Rights Policy: Leadership and Change. By STEVEN A. SHULL
The Political Limits of Environmental Regulation: Tracking the Unicorn. By BRUCE YANDLE.
L'Etat en Amerique. Edited by MARIE-FRANCE TOINET.     

After the Truth Commission: Gender and Citizenship in Timor-Leste

This article explores the relationship between truth commissions and gendered citizenship through a case study of Timor-Leste. It examines how, 10 years after the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR) has completed its work, women’s citizenship remains constrained by, and negotiated within, deeply gendered narratives of nation-building that are informed by historical experiences of the resistance struggle. The power of these narratives—which foreground heroism rather than victimisation—underscores the need to situate truth commissions as part of an ongoing politics of memory. Despite the power of political elites to shape this politics, the continued marginalisation of sections of society within official narratives is also providing an impetus for alternative truth-telling efforts that seek to broaden public perspectives on the past. By promoting new narratives of women’s experiences of the conflict, these projects might be understood as attempts to negotiate and transform gendered conceptions of citizenship in the present and for the future.