A comprehensive primer to the major theoretical frameworks used in policy process research written by leading public policy scholars.

Table of Contents

• Acknowledgments
• Part I: Introduction
• 1. Introducing the Scope and Focus of Policy Process Research and Theory, Christopher M. Weible
• Part II: Theoretical Approaches to Policy Process Research
• 2. Ambiguity and Multiple Streams, Nikolaos Zahariadis
• 3. Punctuated Equilibrium Theory: Explaining Stability and Change in Public Policymaking, Frank R. Baumgartner, Bryan D. Jones, and Peter B. Mortensen
• 4. Democratic Policy Design: Social Construction of Target Populations, Anne L. Schneider, Helen Ingram, and Peter deLeon
• 5. Policy Feedback Theory, Suzanne Mettler and Mallory SoRelle
• 6. The Advocacy Coalition Framework: Foundations, Evolution, and Ongoing Research, Hank C. Jenkins-Smith, Daniel Nohrstedt, Christopher M. Weible, and Paul A. Sabatier
• 7. The Narrative Policy Framework, Mark K. McBeth, Michael D. Jones, and Elizabeth A. Shanahan
• 8. An Assessment of the Institutional Analysis and Development Framework and Introduction of the Social-Ecological Systems Framework, Elinor Ostrom with Michael Cox and Edella Schlager
• 9. Innovation and Diffusion Models in Policy Research, Frances Stokes Berry and William D. Berry
• Part III: Conclusions
• 10. A Comparison of Theories of the Policy Process, Paul Cairney and Tanya Heikkila
• 11. Advancing Policy Process Research, Christopher M. Weible
• About the Contributors