Political narratives play a central role in modern governance. They explain a government's driving principles, and underpin their ability to implement policy change. Rhetoric is the tool that Prime Ministers use to articulate and frame political narratives to support their policy prescriptions. This article examines four case studies of how Prime Ministers in Westminster systems have used political rhetoric to create narratives capable of making a persuasive case for policy change. Common themes are explored to provide the basis for a heuristic that encapsulates contemporary prime ministerial practice in articulating political narratives for policy change. © The Policy Press, 2012.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	Prime Ministers, policy change, heuristic
Research Division:	Human Society
Research Group:	Policy and administration
Research Field:	Policy and administration not elsewhere classified
Objective Division:	Law, Politics and Community Services
Objective Group:	Government and politics
Objective Field:	Government and politics not elsewhere classified
UTAS Author:	Grube, D (Associate Professor Dennis Grube)
ID Code:	99015
Year Published:	2012
Web of Science® Times Cited:	9
Deposited By:	Arts, Law and Education
Deposited On:	2015-03-11
Last Modified:	2018-03-19
Downloads:	0