5. Policy Narratives

Roe's theory of policy narratives shows that development policies are often based on argument, scenarios and narratives that do not stand up to closer scrutiny (e.g. the ‘tragedy of the commons’ narrative, or the African ‘wood fuel crisis’ narrative). Frequently the narratives are directly contradicted by experience in the field. In spite of this, the narratives persist and continue to inform policy-making, largely because there is a strong pressure to carry on reproducing simplifying narratives when difficult decisions have to be made. Roe suggests that the best way of reforming outdated narratives is not to simply present findings and expect these to be taken into account. Frequently, if the findings do not fit into the narrative they will merely be ignored. Instead, researchers and practitioners wishing to promote more evidence-based policy must try to engage with the policy narratives themselves. This can be done by re-telling the narrative and trying to improve it, or by introducing contradictory evidence in the form of counter-narratives.

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