The politics of directionality in innovation policy through the lens of policy process frameworks

Different interpretations of ‘directionality’ in innovation policy and sustainability transitions literatures suggest the need for distinguishing between actors ‘giving direction’ contributing to transformative change, and ‘systemic directionality’ as a feature of transformative change required to address urgent societal challenges. In a first step towards bridging these understandings, we emphasize the process-oriented and political nature of directionality, and mobilize political theory to conceptualize the politics of directionality. The questions:‘who gives which direction, where, how, when and why’ are employed to discuss the politics of directionality in an integrative literature review of five policy process frameworks: Multiple Streams Framework (MSF), Punctuated Equilibrium Theory (PET), Policy Feedback Theory (PFT), Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) and the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF). We present a conceptual framework integrating insights from policy process frameworks for conceptualizing the politics of directionality as involving both actors giving direction and the systemic directionality of transformative change.