Do Advocacy Coalitions Matter? Crisis and Change in Swedish Nuclear Energy Policy.

The article discusses the use of the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) to study developments in Swedish nuclear energy policy in the 1970s and 1980s. It explores hypotheses about advocacy coalition stability, and analyzes the motivations explaining policy change in the wake of the 1979 Three Mile Island accident and the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. It notes that the study confirms patterns of coalition stability and shows that interests and political learning were important in explaining policy change in the case. It states that theoretical implications derived from the study call for further specification of basic ACF concepts, and posit the intensity and breadth of political conflict.