The Advocacy Coalition Framework: An Approach for the Comparative Analysis of Contentious Policy Issues

Abstract

Since the emergence of public policy as a field of study in the middle of the twentieth century, a definitive challenge has been to develop theoretical approaches for the comparative study of policy processes. One theoretical approach that has endured over time is the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF). With more than three decades of research and hundreds of applications that span the globe, the ACF is now one of the most established and widely applied approaches for studying policy processes. This chapter provides a brief overview of the ACF covering its creation and foundation, past and recent contributions and niches, general description, theoretical areas of emphases, evolution, boundaries of application, and major challenges and strategies for advancing knowledge about the policy process.