Policy process research and the causal mechanism movement: reinvigorating the field?

Abstract

For nearly 20 years, four edited volumes of Theories of the Policy Process (TPP) have reviewed, chronicled, and revised the key frameworks and theories of the policy process. With the growing sophistication and the ever-increasing number of empirical applications of each approach, the volumes editors have called for policy process scholars to take causality seriously. We argue that the growing interest in causal mechanisms in other areas of political sciences and in social sciences generally may contribute to the next generation of policy process research. A textual analysis of TPPs 4th edition reveals a lumpiness in the use of causality and mechanisms across seven popular approaches: Multiple Streams Framework, the Advocacy Coalition Framework, Punctuated Equilibrium Theory, Institutional Rational Choice, Policy Network Approrach, Policy Feedback Theory, and Narrative Policy Framework.