Policy Process Theory for Rural Studies: Navigating Context and Generalization in Rural Policy

Rural studies and policy process literature are ripe for integration due to their interdisciplinary approaches, empirical-foci, and importance of values, norms, and heuristics. Policy process theory often ignores the important context-rich variation within the rural and urban distinction, yet offers qualities rural scholars may find useful, like generalizability. This integration would improve both literature by facilitating empirical inquiry. Process theory "lenses" offer internal consistency, a shared research agenda, and applicability in many settings. These qualities encourage sharing and comparing of diverse research findings, thereby advancing common understanding and exploration of the policy process. In illustration of these ideas, this article reviews five policy process frameworks, the Institutional Development and Analysis framework, the Advocacy Coalition Framework, the Social Construction Framework, the Narrative Policy Framework, and the Multiple Streams Approach, extant rural policy process studies, and provides examples of how the literature may be integrated to explore specific research areas and questions.