Theories of the Policy Process

Sabatier designed the volume as a forum for proponents of the most promising policy process frameworks to present their basic propositions, empirical evidence, and future research directions side by side . His editorial mission was to raise the scientific rigor of policy theory by demanding that each framework articulate empirically testable hypotheses—preferably competing hypotheses capable of distinguishing one theory from another. The book is not an argument for a single theory but a curated showcase of the field's major alternatives.

The Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) is a policy process theory co-founded by Sabatier and Hank Jenkins-Smith in the 1980s . It argues that the policy world is divided into policy subsystems where actors organize into advocacy coalitions structured by shared beliefs, and that policy change occurs through learning and external shocks . The ACF appears in Theories of the Policy Process because Sabatier created the framework, and he included it alongside rival frameworks—Multiple Streams, Punctuated Equilibrium, Institutional Analysis and Development—to demonstrate the field's theoretical diversity.

The first edition was published in 1999 with Paul Sabatier as editor . It has since gone through multiple editions, with a second edition in 2007 and a third in 2014 co-edited with Christopher Weible . Following Sabatier's death in 2013, Weible assumed the editorship for later editions, continuing the book's role as the standard gateway to policy process research .

A standard textbook would synthesize existing knowledge into a unified narrative. Sabatier's volume instead invites the creators of competing frameworks to speak in their own voices, presenting their propositions and evidence without editorial homogenization . This design reflects Sabatier's scientific philosophy: he believed theoretical progress required clear, competing hypotheses rather than vague synthesis. His favorite saying was 'clarity begets clarity, mush begets mush' . The book is therefore a laboratory of theoretical rivalry, not a consensus statement.

Sabatier was a professor of environmental science and policy at UC Davis from 1972 until his retirement in 2011 . He was widely regarded as a major figure in the development of policy process theory, particularly through co-founding the Advocacy Coalition Framework with Hank Jenkins-Smith . His 1993 book Policy Change and Learning, which introduced the ACF, received over 3,000 citations by 2016 . He received the Excellence in Mentoring Award from the American Political Science Association's Public Policy Section in 2009 .

Some readers assume that because Sabatier edited the volume, it advocates for the Advocacy Coalition Framework as the definitive theory. This is incorrect. Sabatier deliberately structured the book as a pluralistic forum where rival frameworks receive equal presentation space . His editorial voice appears in the introduction and conclusion, where he urges greater scientific rigor across all frameworks—not where he declares a winner. The book's enduring value lies precisely in its refusal to impose a single theoretical answer.