The Narrative Policy Framework

Shanahan, Elizabeth A.; Jones, Michael D.; McBeth, Mark K.; Radaelli, Claudio M.

doi:10.4324/9780429494284-6

Cited by 175 publications

(440 citation statements)

References 1 publication

Supporting

Mentioning

390

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Pushing these insights further, public policy scholars have developed an overarching framework for studying the impact of framing on the policy process: the NPF. The NPF assumes that narratives (or stories) are primary mechanisms by which individuals process complex information and communicate about events and issues and posits that interest groups and other policy actors strategically craft narratives to advance their goals (Shanahan, Jones, McBeth, & Radaelli, ). Narratives contain structural elements that can be identified across policy contexts, including the following: (1) a setting, including “policy consequential phenomena” such as legal aspects, scientific evidence, and economic conditions; (2) characters, such as victims, villains, and heroes; and (3) a moral, or policy solution (Shanahan et al, , p. 176).…”

Section: Framing and The Narrative Policy Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In conflict expansion, groups that perceive themselves to be on the losing side of policy debates are expected to employ narratives in ways that draw in more sympathetic observers, thus increasing the size of their coalitions and destabilizing existing power arrangements . Narrative strategies for conflict expansion include using dramatic, attention‐grabbing language; linking policy debates to larger, more controversial issues; and highlighting the diffuse costs and concentrated benefits of policies one opposes (Gupta, Ripberger, & Collins, ; Shanahan et al, ). In conflict containment, groups that perceive themselves to be on the winning side are expected to employ narratives in ways that limit attention to (and participation in) the policy debate, thereby maintaining the status quo.…”

Section: Framing and The Narrative Policy Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In conflict containment, groups that perceive themselves to be on the winning side are expected to employ narratives in ways that limit attention to (and participation in) the policy debate, thereby maintaining the status quo. Narrative strategies for conflict containment include treating policy issues as isolated problems and emphasizing the concentrated costs and diffuse benefits of status quo policies (Gupta et al, ; Shanahan et al, ).…”

Section: Framing and The Narrative Policy Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“… The macro level concerns grand, historical narratives that are identifiable as institutions or cultural norms (Shanahan et al, , p. 195). …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Narrative Strategies in the Gun Policy Debate: Exploring Proximity and Social Construction

Merry¹

2018

Policy Studies Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

While much scholarship has explored the framing of gun policy, the bulk of that work has focused on general themes or arguments made in support or opposition to gun control. This study offers a more nuanced examination of the framing in the gun policy debate, utilizing the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) to identify rhetorical and political strategies of gun control and gun rights organizations. Drawing on a data set of more than 58,000 Facebook posts by 15 gun policy organizations, I examine how groups portray the victims of gun violence, particularly with respect to the race and age of victims. I also examine the types of gun violence that groups emphasize on social media. The findings suggest that gun control organizations seek to broaden the scope of debate by focusing on child victims and on mass shootings. Gun rights organizations pursue a similar strategy, but with a focus on self‐defense shootings. Despite the fact that gun violence primarily affects minorities, both types of organizations rarely mentioned race. I attribute this to groups' efforts to emphasize proximate and positively constructed characters. This research suggests that both types of organizations systematically distort the nature of the gun policy problem.

show abstract

Section: Framing and The Narrative Policy Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Framing and The Narrative Policy Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Framing and The Narrative Policy Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“… The macro level concerns grand, historical narratives that are identifiable as institutions or cultural norms (Shanahan et al, , p. 195). …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Narrative Strategies in the Gun Policy Debate: Exploring Proximity and Social Construction

Merry¹

2018

Policy Studies Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Narrative settings focus audience attention on a specific space and time, much like issue categorization frames focus attention on a subset of potential considerations. While the NPF has proposed that settings are an important structural component of policy narratives (Shanahan et al, , p. 176), empirical NPF work regarding settings is practically nonexistent (see exceptions in Gray & Jones, ; Ney, ). As such, the need to operationalize the concept effectively is acute.…”

Section: The Case For Narrative Settings and Issue Categorization Framesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bounded Stories

Shanahan¹,

Raile²,

French³

et al. 2018

Policy Studies Journal

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) and framing scholars share an interest in how the construction of policy arguments influences opinions and policy decisions. However, conceptual clarification is needed. This study advances the NPF by clarifying the meaning and function of frames and narrative, as well as their respective roles in creating policy realities. We explore sociological and psychological roots of framing scholarship and map these onto NPF's science of narratives philosophy, suggesting that narratives can reveal internally held cognitive schemas. We focus on issue categorization frames as boundaries for narrative construction. Within these bounds, narrative settings further focalize the audience by specifying where action toward a solution takes place. Based on 26 interviews with floodplain decision makers in Montana, we capture internally held cognitions through the assemblage of issue categorization frames and narrative elements. We find that settings can traverse issue categorization frames and policy solutions, with actions of characters that unfold within the setting being key. Similarly, we find that a single issue categorization frame can contain multiple different narratives and that individuals may simultaneously hold multiple different narratives internally. Overall, this study contributes to policy process research through establishment of connections among narratives, issue categorization frames, and cognitive schemas.

show abstract

Swedish bureaucratic biodiversity: Analysing municipal worker discourse with the theory of sociocultural viability

Singleton

2023

Env Pol Gov

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Cities are important sites for societal transitions towards sustainability, which is increasingly recognised around the issue of biodiversity conservation and protection. However, cities are often characterised by the need to develop and grow. Furthermore, efforts to promote sustainable development have been criticised as failing to address the fundamental causes of environmental destruction. In this article, based on interviews with bureaucrats and documentary analysis, I explore urban planning and biodiversity protection at four Swedish municipalities. Biodiversity protection has been an official goal in Sweden for 30 years. As such, my research aim is to explore how Swedish bureaucrats represent efforts to balance imperatives to develop cities and protect biodiversity. Taking an institutional approach, I identify what information is included and excluded. In assessing municipal discourse, I utilise the theory of sociocultural viability, which provides an analytical typology of four worldviews. I identify that within respondents' discourse, biodiversity primarily emerges as a product of a hierarchical view of reality, as a measurable object; an indicator; a characteristic; and as a provider that is both engineerable and replaceable. This was despite numerous respondents articulating an egalitarian desire for more holistic interpretations of biodiversity in urban planning, appreciative of its inherent worth. This suggests that biodiversity has largely been integrated into extant hierarchical conceptualisations of public administration. According to cultural theory, addressing wicked policy problems effectively requires insight from several of the typology's worldviews. As such, current practice may reiterate dominant contemporary views on nature rather than innovation towards a radically different society.

show abstract

The Narrative Policy Framework

Cited by 175 publications

References 1 publication

Narrative Strategies in the Gun Policy Debate: Exploring Proximity and Social Construction

Narrative Strategies in the Gun Policy Debate: Exploring Proximity and Social Construction

Bounded Stories

Swedish bureaucratic biodiversity: Analysing municipal worker discourse with the theory of sociocultural viability

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About