Assessing Policy Process Knowledge: A Systematic Review of Three Theoretical Approaches That Are Applied to Cases of Policy Change
European Policy Analysis, Forthcoming
38 Pages Posted: 27 Apr 2018
Date Written: April 9, 2018
Abstract
This article seeks to understand how knowledge of the policy process, and especially of policy change, is generated. For three dominant approaches — punctuated equilibrium theory, incremental change theorising, and institutional isomorphism theorising — we ask where, by whom, and especially how these theoretical approaches have been applied in empirical studies. Answering these questions is relevant for synthesising knowledge on policy change across such studies. For a stratified sample of 153 empirical articles, we find that the theories have mainly been applied for single-n or small-n studies at the national level, in western countries, and by scholars affiliated with western universities. We also find that the theoretical approaches are, generally, only partially and loosely operationalised. This limits the generic lessons we can draw from this body of empirical work.
Keywords: Policy Change, Institutional Change, Policy Transformation, Punctuated Equilibrium, Incremental Policy Change, Institutional Isomorphism, PRISMA Analysis
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