Strategy, Narratives, and Reading the Public: Developing a Micro-Level Theory of Political Strategies within the Narrative Policy Framework

Recent research on policy narratives shows that stakeholders strategically switch away from their preferred policy narrative to a different policy narrative in an effort to better appeal to the public. While this level of strategic decision making may not be surprising, frameworks such as the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) do not currently outline a theoretical explanation to predict when and why this behavior may occur at the micro, or individual, level. While the NPF deals with strategic decision making, it has done so at the meso, or subsystem, level. Thus far, NPF micro-level development has focused on explaining why the target of a policy narrative would choose to adopt a particular narrative as their own view on the issue. This project begins the process of developing micro-level theory to outline how an individual engages in strategic decision making. Specifically, we integrate the theorizing behind the Third-Person Effect (TPE) into the NPF to develop and test new micro-level hypotheses related to this strategic decision-making process. Results suggest that the TPE influences how and why stakeholders decide which policy narratives they think will best resonate with the public. This research can help scholars better explain and predict why policy entrepreneurs use certain policy narratives.