Advocacy Coalition Framework
The Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) is a theory of the policy process developed by Paul Sabatier and Hank Jenkins-Smith from the late 1980s and consolidated in their 1993 volume Policy Change and Learning. It explains policy stability and change over long periods by analysing competing coalitions of actors within a policy subsystem who are bound together by shared beliefs. Policy change is understood as a function of the interaction among these belief-based coalitions, the policy-oriented learning that occurs over time, and external events and shocks that can shift the balance of power among them.
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Sources
- Sabatier, P. A., & Jenkins-Smith, H. C. (Eds.) (1993). Policy Change and Learning: An Advocacy Coalition Approach. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. ISBN: 9780813316499
How to cite this page
ScholarGate. (2026, June 22). Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) for Policy Change. ScholarGate. https://scholargate.app/en/public-policy/advocacy-coalition-framework
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