Assessing Policy Conflict Framework Development: A Meta-Review

Not only contemporary democratic societies and their governments are shaken by serious policy conflicts in issues such as immigration, health care, energy, and particularly climate change. If we want to steer sound policy responses and avoid serious stalemates, we need to understand the complexity and dynamics of these conflicts. The Policy Conflict Framework (PCF) is an emerging policy process theory that offers us a direct conceptualization for the analysis of policy conflicts characteristics. This paper reviews over 30 applications of the PCF, published in English between 2017 and March 2023, and summarizes trends and patterns across the applications. Based on this meta-review, the paper also provides recommendations for PCF readers and researchers, including better methodological approaches to operationalization, measurement, and analysis in applying the PCF. The clearer framework will enhance our understanding of the democratic policy process and will provide us a better way how to address today’s challenging policy conflicts.