Scholars and practitioners who seek to understand collective decision-making and governance utilize frameworks and theories to identify what matters (and does not) in shaping public policy creation, implementationImplementation, and revision. Useful frameworks and theories will attempt to identify the primary elements of the policy-making process and characterize the critical interactions among them. The Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF)Advocacy coalition framework (ACF) was developed for that purpose. In the four decades since its first articulation in the early 1980s, the Framework has been widely applied, criticized, and revised in cases across the globe. This chapter briefly recounts that development and evolution, highlighting key milestones and adaptations that have shaped its current form. We present the three main theories embedded in the Framework and offer a characterization of the “textbook” version of the ACFTextbook Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) that one is likely to encounter in overviews, applications, and courses on theories of the policy processPolicy process. We then provide an overview of this volume's empirical chapters, highlighting a cross-section of the most exciting new scholarly developments within and outside this textbook version.