Advocacy Coalitions and Policy Change in Africa

Abstract Although the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) has advanced policy process scholarship over the past three decades, systematic efforts to test the extent to which the framework is applicable to Africa’s context are limited. This situation stifles the growth of African policy process scholarship and hampers the production of generalizable knowledge. This volume addresses this empirical gap by answering two interrelated research questions: what are the characteristics of advocacy coalitions, and what are the explanations for policy change? These questions are answered across eight empirical chapters, focusing on diverse policy topics and countries drawn from Africa’s regional divisions. Original data were collected from various sources, including documents, interviews, news media, and questionnaires, and analyzed using techniques such as descriptive statistics, network analysis, process tracing, and the constant comparison method. The findings generally confirm the ACF’s theoretical predictions about coalition formation and policy change, with some caveats. Advocacy coalitions were identified across policy subsystems in most countries, but comprised less well-known policy actors like chiefs or tribal leaders. They influenced policy change by exploiting external and internal shocks, using novel resources like convening power to mobilize other actors. Additionally, international actors were found to be influential in African policy processes. The key challenges of applying the ACF in Africa include incorporating the role of ethnic, cultural, and tribal identities in coalition formation, taking a broad perspective on political organizations, and improving theories of nascent subsystems. We conclude that addressing these and other challenges can bolster ACF and policy process research in Africa.