| Sumario: | The Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) addresses the decisions that actors make when constructing policy narratives and the influence of those narratives on policy dynamics. This research explores an underexamined aspect of the role of narratives within the policy process: the impact on participants of the act of narration itself. While earlier work on narratives has explored the role of policy stories in individual sensemaking and identity formation, it has yet to ask questions about the potential effects of narration as an experience. Apart from any particular content, tone, or narrative medium, the act of storytelling may result in political effects. Narration may improve political efficacy as narrators gain new skills, take control of issue framing, and win the attention of policymakers, thereby feeling empowered to steer political discourse and encouraging future political engagement. I refer to this phenomenon as "narrative efficacy." The article aims to contribute to NPF theory building and set an agenda for future research. Incorporating insights from the policy feedback literature into the NPF, I suggest a set of theoretical propositions related to the possible impacts of narration on political efficacy. An exploratory case study of environmental advocacy illustrates an empirical application of these propositions and provides initial support for the claim that narration may improve internal political efficacy. This research broadens the reach of the NPF by shifting attention from the outcome of narrative production to the process itself and proposing a third pathway of political change.
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