Assessing the Past and Planning the Future: Revisiting and Updating ACF’s Theories of Policy Learning and Policy Change

Recent research in public policy have led to important advances in the understanding of the policy process, yet still important knowledge gaps remain concerning the nature and dynamics of policy learning and policy change. Building from one of the most influential frameworks of the policy process – the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) – this paper revisits the importance of learning and policy change and takes stock in their conceptualization and measurement. It then revisits the ACF’s theories of both and identifies important causal drivers and mechanisms as established empirically. As part of this process, we unpack the main dimensions of policy learning and policy change with a particular focus on understanding the meaning of stasis and dynamism in both. As part of this effort, we revisit the core hypotheses on policy learning in the ACF, scrutinize them, and provide updates based on both empirical and theoretical argumentation. Similarly, drawing from past empirical research, we then update the ACF’s hypotheses and major pathways for policy change, including external and internal shocks, policy-oriented learning, and hurting stalemate. The paper contributes with a revision and updating the theories of learning and policy change through the lens of the ACF in an effort to facilitate and encourage empirical testing and further theory development. To this end, we conclude by outlining avenues for future research for advancing the research frontier about learning and policy change within the ACF and beyond.