New Actors in Old Networks: Power and Learning in Zambian Food Policy

Abstract

Chapter 2 provides an empirical analysis of coalitions and policy learning in Zambia’s food policy processes, demonstrating that a deeper understanding of policy learning can be achieved by incorporating power analysis. By integrating the Power Cube with the Advocacy Coalition Framework and policy learning theory, the study offers insights into food policy processes and tests these theories in new contexts, confirming their relevance in low-income country settings. Through multiple empirical data sources, the study finds that food policy change in Zambia, altering its focus from hunger to nutrition, has come about through policy learning via policy ideas and norms brought by international actors. In particular, it shows different ways in which international advocacy coalitions intervene in national policy processes through epistemic and resource-based power. These international coalitions bring policy learning and the power of resources to create policy shifts, but also raise questions of legitimate process in catalyzing policy change.