Defining Ideas
Shared beliefs, ways of thinking, including norms, ideology, world views, and scientific knowledge
What are ideas?
Incremental policy changes that keep the same instruments and goals.
What is first-order change?
Name the three streams in Kingdon’s model.
Problem, Policy, Politics streams.
Someone who promotes ideas / solutions, has networks, resources, willingness to invest time & political capital.
Who are “policy entrepreneurs”?
The ideas spreading, infecting policy communities, causing change.
What is the “virus / infection” metaphor?
What is a visible or “taken‐for‐granted” idea, often unchallenged? (Hall, 1993)
What is a paradigm (or core belief / taken‐for‐granted idea)?
Policy change that modifies instruments more substantially while keeping overall goals.
What is second-order change?
The period when the three streams align and policy change becomes possible.
What is a policy window / window of opportunity?
These individuals take advantage of opportunities to influence policy change.
What are policy entrepreneurs?
The idea that problems, solutions, and decision makers are loosely coupled; choice happens when streams connect somewhat randomly.
What do we mean by “garbage can model / organized anarchy”?
Normative beliefs and Empirical beliefs
What is right/wrong, What causes behavior change
Radical change in policy goals, instruments, and underlying assumptions.
What is third-order change?
In the problem stream of Multiple Streams Analysis, these crises or dramatic occurrences, ike disasters or scandals, suddenly draw attention to issues that need government action.
What are focusing events?
Skills that make policy entrepreneurs effective.
Persuasion, networking, credibility, persistence
Compare virus vs garbage can metaphors.
Virus = spread and infectiousness; Garbage can = randomness and unpredictability of alignment
According to Cairney & Weible, what are the three roles that ideas play in policymaking?
The three roles are: 1) idea as proposed policy solution, 2) persuasion / framing / storytelling to align solutions with beliefs, 3) deeply held beliefs or paradigms that frame what issues and solutions are thinkable.
Third-order change tends to occur under this kind of event, highlighting the inadequacy of current assumptions.
What is a policy failure or crisis?
Kingdon used this biological metaphor to describe the policy stream, where experts and specialists float, debate, and refine potential solutions.
What is the primeval soup?
How do entrepreneurs exploit a policy window?
By framing problems, building coalitions, promoting solutions, and timing their actions strategically.
Actors who, like surfers waiting for a wave, stand ready to exploit a window.
Who are Policy Entrepreneurs?