Policy Change And Learning: An Advocacy Coalition Approach

by Paul A. Sabatier, Hank C Jenkins-smith (Editor)

The field of public policy analysis is undergoing major change and development in the theories its practitioners employ and the way those theories are tested. In this book, the contributors clearly lay out the advocacy coalition approach to public policy analysis and apply it to a variety of public policy problems and arenas. In the process of looking at case studies in education, airline deregulation, communications, energy, and the environment, Sabatier and Jenkins-Smith offer the fullest exposition and application of the advocacy coalition framework to date, revising the approach in significant ways for future research and analysis.Students are treated to a textbook example of how theory illuminates the policy world, while scholars and policy makers are brought up-to-date on developments in the advocacy coalition framework and its potential to account for many factors that elude the classic stages model of agenda setting, formulation, and implementation. Tables, figures, and a methodological appendix enhance the teaching value of the text.

304 pages, Paperback

First published August 25, 1993

About the author

Paul A. Sabatier is Professor of Environmental Science and Policy at the University of California, Davis.

Reviews

[Amber Nicole]

This is probably the best book I’ve found at outlining Sabatier’s Advocacy Coalition Framework, which is a vital part of understanding the theory behind the study of policy processes. Trying to grasp what was done in creating this framework and just what was so important about it felt nearly unobtainable for me in the places where it’s summarized. I’m glad I read this one.

So Sabatier & Jenkins-Smith begin the book by outlining what the field of policy literature looked like leading up to the development of the ACF, and why it was needed - the inadequacies of the states heuristic, as useful as it can be and was up to that point - before explaining how a dive into the driving mechanisms of policy formation is vital to both understanding and predicting change over time. Sabatier argues in the ACF that groups within a policy subsystem deserve more recognition, that they tend to be larger than the ‘iron triangle’ of interest groups, legislative committees and bureaucracies that we have become so familiar with. He also does a fair job of discussing the external factors influencing coalitions and their work, although, because the framework itself isn’t focused on that, it doesn’t get as much attention.

I appreciate that this book goes beyond ACF to discuss the research that has since been developed - where the framework excels, and where it falls short (although this book is now dated & a better understanding of this development requires further reading). I don’t like rating academic books, so I won’t here. But I appreciate this read, as tough as the material around ACF can often be. :)

[Steven Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Theories of public policy are often lacking in rigor and quality. The "Advocacy Coalition Framework" has its problems, but it is one of the more powerful approaches available. This is the standard resource for getting a detailed sense of this perspective. Since it was published the perspective has evolved and been fine tuned. For a sense of the original version, this is a major resource.

[Ed P. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting way of looking at policy analysis.