Table 1.

Policy analysis theories/frameworks

Model and reference	Description	Factors affecting policy decisions	Comments/examples
Kingdon Multiple Streams Theory [31, 67]	Three streams flow through the policy system: problems, policies (solutions), and politics. At critical points in time “policy windows” are opened, creating the opportunity for policy entrepreneurs to link the three streams together, making policy change more likely to occur	Problem—indicator, focusing event, feedback Policy (solution)—technical feasibility, values, resource adequacy, acceptability to public and politicians Politics—national mood, party ideology, interest groups / balance of interests, Window of opportunity Policy entrepreneur	Windows are more likely to open due to change in the political or problem streams, than in the policy stream. “A worked out, viable proposal, available in the policy stream, enhances the odds that a problem will rise on a decision agenda” page 195 [31]. “Without the presence of an entrepreneur, the linking of the streams may not take place” page 182 [31]
“3-i” framework [69–71]	This framework holds that policy developments and choices are influenced by actors’ interests and ideas, as well as by institutions	Ideas—people’s beliefs (includes research evidence), people’s values (includes cultural norms) Interests—interest groups/stakeholders (including researchers) Institutions—government structures, policy networks, policy legacies, characteristics of the policymaking process	Some authors also refer to the importance of networks interacting with the 3-i’s [29], or to external factors that fall outside of the policy choice being analyzed (e.g. an election) [85]
Narrative Policy Framework [72]	This framework recognizes the power of stories used by policy actors in seeking to influence decision-making. Stories contain the elements of setting, characters, plot and moral	The narrative or story: Setting—context, including institutional and socio-economic factors Characters—contains at least one actor, e.g., a hero or a villain Plot—provides the arc of action, e.g., overcoming adversity, villains causing trouble, suffering of victims Moral—describes the cause of, and solution to, the policy problem [86]	“This framework can be viewed as a separate policy framework, or as embedded within other frameworks, such as multiple streams theory, where narratives can influence one or more streams, and be harnessed by policy entrepreneurs” [75] “This suggests that research evidence may be more persuasive when translated or integrated into narrative elements such as setting, moral of the story, characters and plot” [75]
Problem driven political economy framework [73, 74]	This framework starts with a problem or issue for which a technical and economic analysis of feasible solutions has not worked. It then adds a political economy analysis focused on: a) relevant structural factors, b) existing institutions (formal and informal), and c) stakeholder interests, constellations, and power	Technical—effectiveness, cost-effectiveness etc Political: Structural factors—country demographics, geography, socio-cultural factors, etc Institutions—the ‘rules of the game’, local laws, conventions, traditions Stakeholders—individuals, organizations, coalitions from the public, private or civil society sectors	“[Development] outcomes are achievable when we consider the intersection of politically possible and technically sound” [74]. The framework has been used to identify and explain barriers and enablers to implementing nutrition and sustainability policy into government food procurement [87], and in an analysis of sugar-sweetened beverage taxation in three Latin American countries [88], among others
Advocacy Coalition Framework [68]	This framework considers the policy subsystem as the primary unit of analysis, and includes the “policy scope, territorial scope and actors directly or indirectly influencing policy subsystem affairs” (p189)	Relative stable parameters (e.g. social, physical and, constitutional/ institutional structures) Dynamic external events, e.g., socioeconomic conditions, public opinion, composition of coalitions