Stories in the agenda: a Narrative Policy Framework study

Damasio Duval Rodrigues Neto,Márcio Barcelos

doi:10.1590/0034-761220190395

Damasio Duval Rodrigues Neto, Márcio Barcelos

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/0034-761220190395

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Abstract

Abstract This study applies the “Narrative Policy Framework” (NPF) to the affirmative action policy process of the Federal University of Pelotas (UFPEL) and proposes theoretical intersection between the NPF and agenda setting literature, seeking to find out the role of policy narratives in policy processes. NPF is an empiric-oriented framework that posits that the policy-makers’ stories have generalizable components and are built and crafted in accordance to their ideas. These are policy narratives, and are at the center of the policy process. By analyzing formulation stages of public policy and referring to ideas and narratives, the NPF refers to the agenda setting literature and provides means for empirical research of agenda setting concepts. The study undertook analysis of regulatory outputs and semi-structured interviews. Findings indicate that policy narratives have affected institutional regulatory outputs regarding UFPel’s affirmative action policies.

Highlights

Scholars and researchers in the field of policy analysis have developed, since the early 2000’s, the “Narrative Policy Framework” (NPF), an empirical approach to narrative studies in public policy research
We argue that plots in policy narratives can be studied as examples of policy image making or problem definition, considering that causal connections that are highlighted in crafting a policy image, according to Baumgartner and Jones (1993, p. 26) – “a mixture of empirical information and emotive appeals” - and in problem definition, according to Stone (1989, p. 282) – “a process of image making, where the images have to do fundamentally with attributing cause, blame, and responsibility” – are consistent with NPF theory description of the structural element of the plot
What this study aims to confirm is if these narratives fit into the stricter “policy narrative” concept as developed in NPF and what impact stories had on regulatory outputs

Summary

Introduction

Scholars and researchers in the field of policy analysis have developed, since the early 2000’s, the “Narrative Policy Framework” (NPF), an empirical approach to narrative studies in public policy research. This framework presents the concept of policy narratives which are the stories that policy makers utilize strategically to influence the policy process. The NPF’s goal is to analyze the impact of these narratives on policy outputs (O’Leary, Borland, Stockwell, & MacDonald, 2017) In this article, this framework is applied to a case study that investigates the role of narratives in policy making within an organization. Decision making in an organization this size, even though it is not a public policy per se, can be analyzed as a complex process, where there are conflicts among different beliefs, argumentative disputes and construction of narratives

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