Narrative strategies in a nondemocratic setting: Moscow’s urban policy debates

Schlaufer, Caroline; Gafurova, Dilyara; Zhiryakova, Ekaterina; Shikhova, Marina; Belyaeva, Nina

doi:10.1111/psj.12445

Cited by 21 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 83 publications

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“…The narrative elements used on both sides reflect these conflict expansion and containment strategies and are consistent with results of other NPF studies in democratic institutional settings and other policy issues (Gupta et al., 2014; McBeth et al., 2007; Shanahan et al., 2013; Stephan, 2020). Our findings also confirm recent NPF applications in nondemocratic institutional contexts that show that government actors use conflict containment strategies and oppositional actors use strong conflict expansion strategies to criticize government‐driven reforms (Schlaufer et al., 2020).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

“…Schlaufer et al. (2020) has shown that in an authoritarian institutional context, public policy debates typically revolve around policy reforms initiated by the government. Therefore, government actors tend to use conflict containment strategies that support reform‐focused policy positions.…”

Section: Theoretical Framework and Expectationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Chang and Koebele (2020, 640) suggest that policy actors defending reform-focused positions employ conflict containment strategies, while actors promoting status quooriented policy positions use conflict expansion strategies. Schlaufer et al (2020) has shown that in an authoritarian institutional context, public policy debates typically revolve around policy reforms initiated by the government. Therefore, government actors tend to use conflict containment strategies that support reform-focused policy positions.…”

Section: Expectations For the Moscow Waste Management Casementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a nondemocratic regime, although oppositional actors oppose government‐driven reforms, they are not necessarily in favor of the status quo. Rather, they may use a conflict expansion strategy to oppose both reforms proposed by the government and the political status quo (Schlaufer et al., 2020).…”

Section: Theoretical Framework and Expectationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Problem complexity and narratives in Moscow's waste controversy

Schlaufer

Khaynatskaya

Pilkina

et al. 2021

European Policy Analysis

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Public problems are not complex per se but are defined as such. This article explores how problem definition in terms of complexity is strategically used in narratives to expand or contain a policy conflict. We draw on the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) to examine how actors use narratives to define problems and link these problems to solutions and characters. Empirically, we examine narratives used in the Moscow waste management debate by drawing on content analysis of online texts and interviews. The results show that government actors seek to contain conflict by assigning less complexity to the waste problem than nongovernmental actors, who expand conflict by defining the waste problem as politically complex. Narratives with high problem complexity include many victims and villains and propose multifaceted and institutional solutions, while narratives with low problem complexity focus on technocratic solutions. Implications for the Russian waste controversy and the NPF are discussed.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Section: Theoretical Framework and Expectationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Expectations For the Moscow Waste Management Casementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Theoretical Framework and Expectationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Problem complexity and narratives in Moscow's waste controversy

Schlaufer

Khaynatskaya

Pilkina

et al. 2021

European Policy Analysis

Self Cite

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show abstract

“…Even though recent research indicates that policy narratives and proposals can be analyzed in Russia at a local level (Schlaufer et al. 2021 a, b), the challenges of collecting data on preferences and behavior of policy actors in higher positions in authoritarian systems remain.…”

Section: Research Design and Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Identities in the Policy Process of Authoritarian Systems

Hornung

Schröder

Bandelow

2022

Polit Vierteljahresschr

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The integration of the social–psychological social identity approach to policy process research has recently generated new insights on policy-making. Empirical applications for established democracies and multilevel settings such as the European Union have identified five general types of social identities that are relevant for the preferences and behavior of policy actors and their stability and change over time. Social identities are based on joint memberships in social groups, such as organizations, demographic/biographical identities, sectors, locations, and informal opportunities for exchange (which may result in programmatic groups and identities). Some of these social groups, above all pluralistic interest associations and political parties, are directly related to the settings of embedded democracies. This article sheds light on the traveling capacity of the Social Identities in the Policy Process (SIPP) perspective by applying it to the Russian political system. An analysis of policy actors’ social identities in two federal ministries shows that in autocracies, interest intermediation, legitimacy, and influence on policy processes run through professional and informal groups when competing organizations and democratic institutions are absent. The results indicate that the SIPP perspective is adaptable to policy processes in different contexts but that the importance of identity types varies.

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The devil‐angel shift in times of crisis: How Swiss scientists used policy narratives during the COVID‐19 pandemic

Ksinsik

2024

European Policy Analysis

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This paper studies how scientists participated in policy debates during the COVID‐19 pandemic in Switzerland not only by telling facts but also by telling stories. It combines insights from Narrative Policy Framework and science communication literature with a conceptualization of scientific advice to study how scientists used narratives and the devil‐angel shift narrative strategy to communicate about policies and problems. Quantitative content analysis of Swiss newspaper articles shows that in statements with problem advice scientists use more narratives than in statements with policy advice and that the devil‐angel shift score for problem advice is significantly lower for narratives with problem advice. Overall, the research shows that problem advice is a good predictor for the use of the devil shift. However, when scientists used narratives with policy advice, they often followed a negative narrative strategy that also highlights problems.

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Narrative strategies in a nondemocratic setting: Moscow’s urban policy debates

Cited by 21 publications

References 83 publications

Problem complexity and narratives in Moscow's waste controversy

Problem complexity and narratives in Moscow's waste controversy

Social Identities in the Policy Process of Authoritarian Systems

The devil‐angel shift in times of crisis: How Swiss scientists used policy narratives during the COVID‐19 pandemic

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