| This dissertation examines policy change and policy reform using the United States military retirement policy, in existence since 1861, as its subject matter. This policy is an important component of Department of Defense personnel policy, with annual outlays valued at around 10 percent of the DOD budget. The research asks why this policy was resistant to reform in spite of reform recommendations of at least twenty separate official studies or commissions since 1948. In 1986, the policy was reformed, but the reform was repealed in 1999.;The research is structured using punctuated equilibrium theory and the advocacy coalition framework, as each theory suggests that policies operate within subsystems, and policy change must be studied over at least a decade. The dissertation looks at a 35-year period from 1965 to 1999. A content analysis of texts from the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Stars and Stripes, using a literature-based coding frame, is combined with Congressional testimony and evidence from the federal budget to determine whether the 1986 and 1999 changes represent punctuated changes to the policy and whether coalitions were active in the subsystem.;The study finds, as punctuated equilibrium theory suggests, a growth in budget signals, media attention, and Congressional attention leading up to the 1986 reform law; the study also identifies two policy image frames used consistently by opposing advocates over the 35-year case study. Consistent with the advocacy coalition framework, the study identifies at least two advocacy coalitions active within the policy subsystem.;The dissertation discusses the implications of policy image frames and policy actor beliefs on the military institution and federal budgets, and contributes to the literature on military retirement by applying theories of the policy process to the discussion on the policy. The methodology and theoretical constructs have rarely been used for this subject matter. The study also contributes to the punctuated equilibrium and advocacy coalition literature by exploring a subject matter that does not appear in either literature. |
