A novel method for studying policymaking: Policy Process Analysis (PPA) applied to the refugee crisis

Abstract

This paper introduces a comprehensive method for data collection and analysis, which systematically records and evaluates various features of policy debates across space, time, and issue areas within selected policy episodes. We apply this method to the refugee crisis, discussing advantages, challenges, and best practices. Policy Process Analysis (PPA) incorporates into a single framework the constitutive elements of such policy episodes – including actors’ positions and relations, activities taking place in different policymaking arenas and at different levels of governance, which allows for theoretical and empirical synthesis on a large scale. PPA lies at the cross-roads of the methodological approaches of two distinct research fields that have developed in relative isolation from each other: the study of contentious performances and the study of policy change. Drawing from these methods, it relies on hand-coded datasets collected via the mass media to construct indicators that characterise the substantive elements of policy debates, including the participants, their positions, their interactions, their issue-emphasis, and framing strategies. This holistic reconstruction enables the large-scale, comparative study of the policy process from multiple angles at different levels of analysis, both statically and over time.