Harnessing policy windows : using lessons from the post 9 11 GI Bill passage to garner congressional support for US military requirements

Abstract

The goal of this dissertation is to examine how stakeholders adjusted their narrative strategies to develop support for transferability of veterans' educational benefits to their spouses and dependent children, which was eventually established in the Post9/11 GI Bill. Prior studies have not examined this particular topic, and this dissertation presents an exploratory study that contributes to various hypotheses present in the Narrative Policy Framework. This dissertation demonstrates that stakeholder groups use narrative strategies to expand or constrain the policy issue to support their desired end states and that changes in policy discussion help explain policy changes and revised outcomes.