The Science of Stories: Applications of the Narrative Policy Framework in Policy Analysis is the first comprehensive collection of Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) studies, a new framework that empirically examines the role of policy narratives in the policy process. The core theme of NPF, and hence the book, is that policy narratives shape policy processes through influences on public opinion, coalitional behavior, and cultures and institutions. The original elements of this volume that set it apart from other policy texts are (1) empirical accounts of the power of stories at different levels of analysis within the policy process; (2) studies examining both domestic and international policy arenas; and (3) an assessment of this book written Christopher Weible and Edella Schlager, two prominent policy process scholars who situate the NPF in the larger policy process literature. The Science of Stories is a desired text for graduate and undergraduate policy courses.

Michael D. Jones is Assistant Professor at Oregon State's School of Public Policy, USA. His research has appeared in journals such as the Journal of Political Marketing, Political Psychology, Policy Studies Journal, Social Science Quarterly, and PS: Political Science and Politics.

Elizabeth A. Shanahan is Associate Professor in the Montana State University's Department of Political Science, USA.

Mark K. McBeth is Professor in the Department of Political Science and Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Letters at Idaho State University, USA.

Contents
Preface: The Portneuf School of Narrative; Mark K. McBeth
Acknowledgements
The Scientific Study of Policy Narratives in the Policy Process
1. Introducing the Narrative Policy Framework; Michael D. Jones, Mark K. McBeth and Elizabeth A. Shanahan
2. Research Design and the Narrative Policy Framework; Jonathan J. Pierce, Aaron Smith-Walter and Holly L. Peterson
Micro-Level NPF: Individuals and Policy Narratives
3. The Narrative Policy Framework and the Practitioner: Communicating Recycling Policy; Mark K. McBeth, Donna L. Lybecker and Maria Husmann
4. The Blame Game: Narrative Persuasiveness of the Intentional Causal Mechanism; Elizabeth A. Shanahan, Stephanie M. Adams, Michael D. Jones and Mark K. McBeth
Meso-Level NPF: Groups, Coalitions and Policy Narratives
5. The Strategic Use of Policy Narratives: Jaitapur and the Politics of Siting a Nuclear Power Plant in India; Kuhika Gupta, Joseph T. Ripberger and Savannah Collins
6. Narrating the 'Arab Spring': Where Expertise Meets Heuristics in Legislative Hearings; Tom O'Bryan, Claire A. Dunlop and Claudio M. Radaelli
7. Using the Narrative Policy Framework to Understand Stakeholder Strategy and Effectiveness: A Multi-Case Analysis; Deserai Anderson Crow and John Berggren
8. Coalitions are People: Policy Narratives and the Defeat of Ohio Senate Bill 5; Andrew R. Kear and Dominic D. Wells
9. Exploring the Policy Narratives and Politics of Hydraulic Fracturing in New York; Tanya Heikkila, Chris Weible and Jonathan Pierce
10. The Governance of Social Innovation: Connecting Meso and Macro Levels of Analysis; Steven Ney
Assessing the NPF
11. Narrative Policy Framework: Contributions, Limitations, and Recommendations; Christopher M. Weible and Edella Schlager
12. Denouement?; Elizabeth A. Shanahan, Mark K. McBeth and Michael D. Jones