Abstract

This paper discusses how the assumption that individuals and policy makers do not automatically update their prior beliefs with the new information has shaped policy process theories. Rather than the rational homo economicus, humans are homo narrans: they are more likely to respond to narratives than to expert-based information. The assumption that humans are storytellers is central to the Narrative Policy Framework, which examines the strategic construction of policy narratives by competing coalitions and offers improved measures of narrative elements, strategies, etc., which provide insights into how information is processed by individuals and entire organizations.