Does Policy Learning Lead to Fundamental Policy Change? Learning, Change and Migrant Integration Policies in Europe

Can policy learning contribute to fundamental policy change, from the perspective of discursive policy analysis? Fundamental policy change is change at the level of problem definition or ‘framing’. The discourse coalition framework (Hajer, 1995, 2001) assumes that fundamental policy change does take place, in the form of shifts in policy discourse. However, it explains these changes primarily on the level of language, symbols and social interaction rather than ‘cognitive’ learning. In contrast, the policy frame analysis framework (Schon and Rein 1994) claims that critical reflection at the level of policy frames can lead to fundamental ‘frame shifts.’ If specific institutional conditions are met, cognitive reflection on the level of deeper policy frames would be possible. 

This article reviews these two frameworks in terms of the relation between policy learning and policy change. It deduces a set of theoretical expectations regarding the relation between policy learning and change (actors, types of knowledge used, types of utilization, types of change), and applies them to the case of migrant integration policies in a number of European countries (Germany, France, UK and the Netherlands).