Should We Let Them Go: A Narrative Policy Framework Analysis of the Policy Narratives Surrounding the Release of Genetically Modified Mosquitos in Brazil and the Florida Keys.

SUDWEEKS, JAYCE DEAN. Should We Let Them Go: A Narrative Policy Framework Analysis of the Policy Narratives Surrounding the Release of Genetically Modified Mosquitos in Brazil and the Florida Keys. (Under the direction of Dr. Jennifer Kuzma). Genetically modified (GM) mosquitos have the potential to reduce the incidence of devasting mosquito borne diseases such as malaria, Zika, and dengue fever. The release of GM mosquitos is highly regulated requiring multiple stages of approval before unrestricted use is permitted. Both opponents and advocates of the technology have attempted to influence release decisions by organizing into policy coalitions. In Brazil, the approval for unrestricted use of GM mosquito technology has been granted, while in the Florida Keys the approval for trial releases has been delayed. This dissertation uses the Narrative Policy Framework as a theoretical framework to analyze the policy narratives surrounding the decisions to release of GM mosquitos in Brazil and the Florida Keys and seeks to describe, compare and better understand the role of policy narrative in the policy debate regarding the release of genetically modified mosquitos. Based on the NPF this dissertation investigates the use of narrative characters, narrative strategies and the role of evidence within these policy narratives. This study specifically analyzes the role of hero and villain characters as policy actors which are modeled on the egoalter dyad construct which permits an examination of policy actors, as well as their actions. To examine narrative strategies this study investigates the use of NPF narrative strategies including the Distribution of Costs and Benefits, the use of Condensation Symbols , and the use of Policy Surrogates. To understand the role of evidence this study examines (a) the different types of evidence found in narratives and (b) how evidence is used. The use of narrative characters, narrative strategies and the role of evidence are examined in three different ways: (i) from the perspective of winning and losing coalitions within each country (ii) from the perspective of combined winning coalitions and the losing coalitions (iii) from the perspective of coalitions that supported or opposed GM mosquito releases across the Brazilian and US policy subsystems. Research results highlight important ways in how NPF narrative components were used in GM mosquito policy narratives. Winning and losing coalitions within the Florida Keys and Brazil policy subsystems differed in the types of policy actors found in their coalitions and how they used hero and villain elements. In general, the use of hero narrative elements is more pronounced than the use of villain narrative elements. Winning and losing coalitions in both policy subsystems differed in the types of evidence found in their policy narratives and how that evidence was used. The winning and losing coalitions did not significantly differ in the presence of scientific evidence in their policy narratives. The ipso dictum evidence type was the only type of evidence that demonstrated difference in usage between the winning and losing coalitions and was associated with winning policy coalitions. The use of evidence was more closely associated with whether a coalition had a pro-GM or anti-GM stance toward the GM mosquito technology. Pro-GM coalitions used evidence to support their pro-GM mosquito policy solution while the anti-GM coalitions used evidence to refute or argue against the use of GM mosquitos. The use of NPF narrative strategies in both regions often differed from what was postulated by traditional NPF hypotheses and was more closely aligned with pro-GM or anti-GM technology stances of the coalitions rather than whether they were a winning or losing coalition. Few NPF narrative components were significantly associated with both winning coalitions’ narratives in Brazil and the Florida Keys or in both losing coalitions’ narratives across the two countries. The potential influence of NPF narrative components to create winning policy narratives is context dependent including coalition membership and geographic location.