Explaining Statis and Change in Iran,s Subsidy Policy: Advocacy Coalition Framework

After 30 years from 1979 revolution, Islamic Repulic of Iran subsidy was engaged in fundamental change of the subsidy policy. This research is aimed to answer why and how the change was happened, using one of theoretical views of public policy process, named, Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF). The Research design contained pospositivist philosophical orientation, case study strategy, and process tracing as analytical method. Cues and evidence taken from direct and indirect Interviews as well as public documents revealed that there were two major advocacy coalition in the subsidy policy reform: Consumption Advocacy Coalition (CAC) with beliefs such as libertizing and modifying the prices of public goods and energy fundamentally and suddenly and supporing low income people) and Production Advocacy Coalition (PAC) with beliefs such as libertizing the prices incrementally, supporting production sector, and devising non- price solutions. Also, the evidence showed that the subsidy policy changein Iran can be explained by four casual mechanisms within ACF: policy learing, external shocks and perturbations, internal shocks, and negotiated aggrement.