Comparative Analysis of Three Theories on the Process of Public Policy Change

In the context of public policy analysis, theories allow us to decipher policy contexts, dynamics, and processes. This article focuses on three of the theories of analysis of this process – the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF), the Multiple Streams Framework (MSF) and the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) – and seeks to explore how the comparison between theories can contribute to enhance the analysis of public policy change. First, we will present the conceptual structure, assumptions and hypotheses that each of these theories proposes to examine the process of change. Subsequently, we will compare the explanatory proposals of these theories considering three aspects on which the analysis of the policy process focuses: the actors and their interactions, the context and the process that leads to an eventual policy change. We will conclude by making some considerations about the possible combination of these theories in the analysis of public policies.