Framing the Zone: Political Executives Engaging in a Narrative-Framing Contest During Strategic Decision-making

Sander Merkus*, Jaap de Heer, Marcel Veenswijk

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

13 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Storytelling is regarded as an important practice within planning processes. Seminal contributions (Throgmorton, 1992, Journal of Planning Education and Research, 12, pp. 17–31; Flyvbjerg, 1998, Rationality and Power: Democracy in Practice, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press) as well as recent research (Jensen, 2007, Planning Theory, 6, pp. 211–236; van Hulst, 2012, Planning Theory, 11, pp. 299–318) demonstrate that there are multiple competing stories about the meaning of any specific plan. This paper contributes to this debate by considering stories as building blocks for a collective action frame in the form of a mutual story. Political executives engage in a framing contest in order to influence such a mutual story. Our case study is based on interpretative analysis of contrasting narratives ands shows how political executives negotiate the meaning of a plan in such a way that the chances of its implementation through funding are optimized.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)569-584
Number of pages16
JournalPlanning Practice and Research
Volume29
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 20 Oct 2014
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • collective action frame
  • decision-making
  • framing
  • narrative
  • story telling
  • strategic planning

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Framing the Zone: Political Executives Engaging in a Narrative-Framing Contest During Strategic Decision-making'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this