Utility of the advocacy coalition framework in a regional budget crisis

Abstract

The advocacy coalition framework predicts that externally controlled events, such as jurisdictional shifts, can open venues for policy change within a policy subsystem. Advocacy coalitions may opt to look outside of their traditional decision-making venue for a more suitable venue. Yet, how and when coalitions use their political resources during this venue shift is unclear. We examine how coalitions leverage policy venues and resources when their traditional strategies are found unproductive. We empirically test how advocacy coalitions engage their political resources during an exogenous shock. Using semi-structured interviews with eight individual coalition leaders representing an estimated 1100 individual charities, this study distils whether and how coalition resources and venue shifts are used by subsystem actors. Three main strategies emerge, and we find that some resources are employed in a unique way during the policy implementation crisis, as opposed to how they are used during their original policy advocacy. Finally, we propose further refinement of the advocacy coalition framework to accommodate points of crisis on the complex road from policy advocacy to implementation. From this study, coalitions can learn how to leverage their resources and navigate to an effective decision-making venue to ensure that external crises do not lead to policy failure.