Policy & Politics Journal Blog

Co-Editors of Policy & Politics

The co-editors invite abstracts for a special issue on Power and Politics in the Policy Process.

Abstract submission (500-750 words) deadline: 1 September 2026

From our perspective as editors of Policy & Politics, there is a clear gap in the literature: politics is either not explicitly addressed or under-integrated in policy process studies. The implication is that if politics is missing, then so is power. Our concern is theoretical, empirical and fundamentally practical: not enough has been done to advance knowledge about how politics influences policy responses to public problems. This is to the field’s detriment, given the increasing tendency toward illiberalism in democratic systems that fractures the pluralist norms that policy process research has long relied on.

We argue that ideas about politics and political power are embedded in how we theorise about and empirically analyse policy process concepts, such as the ways that actors behave, leverage resources, mobilize, and more. However, these ideas have not always been explicitly connected to politics and the use of political power.

Without examining the politics of policy making, scholars may be missing critical explanations for core questions in policy process research, such as;

• How does an advocacy coalition actually affect policy change?
• How do marginalized actors leverage political power to trigger punctuations in the policy equilibrium to disrupt policy monopolies?
• How do policy actors use formal or informal power to deny agenda space to opponents when the streams of policy activity would ordinarily foster agenda change?

In response to this gap, we seek submissions for a special issue of Policy & Politics that examines the role of politics, and therefore power, in the policymaking process. Consistent with the scope and aims of Policy & Politics, we are interested in submissions focused on the politics of policy processes that provide broader and more generalisable lessons about the relationship between power and policy making. Submissions should be rigorous in their design, methodologically diverse and intellectually novel in their contribution.

Interested authors should submit an abstract of 500–750 words for consideration by 1 September 2026. Abstract submissions should be sent to Sarah Brown, Journal Manager, at sarah.brown@bristol.ac.uk. Authors will be informed of their selection by 15 October 2026.