Narratives as tools for influencing policy change1

Abstract

This chapter discusses how public policy is navigated by a system of actors that are vying for their preferred policy goals and wield narratives to help achieve those goals. It analyzes the intuitive ad hoc nature of policy narration by drawing upon extant narrative research in public policy to offer theoretically based and useful storytelling advice. It also uses the Narrative Policy Framework, a recent theoretical innovation in policy scholarship, to build a guide for applied understanding of theory. The chapter outlines two key pitfalls that can lead to ineffective policy communication: knowledge fallacy and empathy fallacy. It elaborates that knowledge fallacy is likely to be familiar to those versed in the science communication literature, while empathy fallacy has not been identified within policy narrative research.