Advocacy coalitions and the co-production of anti-corruption policy in Botswana : a discourse network analysis

Abstract

The advocacy coalition framework (ACF) has provided a sound theoretical lens to better understand dynamic and complex policy issues for over three decades. Yet, its application in non-Western contexts remains scant. This article focuses on two critical variables of the ACF—advocacy coalitions and policy core beliefs—to analyze the patterns of interaction that occurred between anti-corruption policy actors in the passage leading to the development of one of Botswana's most recent anti-corruption laws—the Declaration of Assets and Liabilities Act (DALA). The study relied on secondary data (policy statements and positions [n = 368]) retrieved from various sources such as parliamentary transcripts (Hansard) and mainstream media (n = 149). The results of the discourse network analysis revealed several types of coalitions that emerged in the DALA policy sub-system. In addition to highlighting the significance of collaborative efforts and the exchange of ideas between different policy actors, the study contributes to the ACF literature by unpacking the role of advocacy coalitions in an understudied and underrepresented context.