The ACF assumes that public policies and programs are translations of policy-oriented beliefs and can be conceptualized and measured hierarchically, like belief systems. Change in the core aspects, defined as “major policy change,” indicates significant shifts in the direction or goals of the subsystem, whereas change in secondary aspects (e.g., change in means for achieving the goals) is evidence for “minor policy change” (Sabatier and Jenkins-Smith 1999, 147–148).
