LIST OF PANELS

This panel is to discuss new developments, discoveries, and challenges in research applying the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) to policy processes. Developed in the USA within the last 15 years, the NPF has started to gain traction in research from other world regions, investigating a plethora of policy fields with a diverse set of methodologies (e.g. Huda, 2019; McBeth & Lybecker, 2018; Weible, Olofsson, Costie, Katz, & Heikkila, 2016; Merry 2016; Jones 2014; Shanahan et al. 2013).

Neuroscience has long acknowledged the central role of narratives for human cognition. The NPF takes up this finding by explicitly conceptualizing the human being as a homo narrans, i.e. as individual that uses narratives to make sense and of the world around and communicate this sense-making. 

The NPF enables researchers to understand the dynamics of policy making by investigating narrative structure and narrative content (Jones and McBeth 2010). The framework defines narrative structure consisting of setting, characters, plot, and moral of the story that can be studied and compared systematically and empirically (Shanahan et al., 2017; Shanahan, Jones, & McBeth, 2011). Recurring character types are the victim suffering from a policy problem, the villain causing the problem, and the hero solving it (Shanahan et al., 2017).

According to the NPF, policy actors use narrative content in a strategic way to reach their policy goals. Based on various hypotheses, such as the devil-angel-shift or the scope of conflict, the framework claims that these content-related narrative elements can also be studied using systematic empirical approaches (Jones and McBeth 2010; for studies of the NPF hypotheses cf. for instance Brewer, 2019; Shanahan et al., 2017; Shanahan, Jones, McBeth, & Lane, 2013).

The goal of this panel is to enable discussions on new developments, discoveries, and challenges around the NPF. With the NPF still being a relatively young theory of the policy process, many research gaps remain to be filled (cf. also Shanahan et al. in C. M. Weible & P. A. Sabatier (Eds.), Theories of the Policy Process, pp. 173–213). Research topics may include (but are not restricted to):

·         Comparative analyses applying the NPF

·         Innovative methods

·         The NPF applied to new policy contexts and geographies

·         Investigating macro-level narratives

·         Exploring the role of institutions in the NPF

·         Non-results using the NPF

·         NPF applications to post decision-making processes, e.g. policy implementation or evaluation

The panel welcomes papers that contribute to ongoing research around and engage critically with the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF). Research topics may include (but are not restricted to):

·         Comparative analyses applying the NPF

·         Innovative methods

·         The NPF applied to new policy contexts and geographies

·         Investigating macro-level narratives

·         Exploring the role of institutions in the NPF

·         Non-results using the NPF

·         NPF applications to post decision-making processes, e.g. policy implementation or evaluation

Applicants should clearly anchor their research in the NPF framework or engage critically with it to enable fruitful discussions during the panel.