A model of policy making

1. Kingdon’s Streams Metaphor

2. Garbage Cans
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IDEA
IDEA
IDEA

3. Problem Stream
• Attributes of problem
• Whether the problem will get better or become
worse
• Whether it is solvable through policy stream or not
Policy Stream
• Contains the potential ideas that could be
advocated as solutions to the problem
Politics Stream
• State of politics and public opinion
• Sort of public variables available

4. Window for the policy change possibility, but
the opening of the window does not
guarantee any policy change.

5. Triggers by Window of opportunity
• Change in our understanding of the problem
• Change in the political stream that is favorable
to policy change
• Change in our understanding of the
tractability of the problem given current
solutions
• Focusing event that draws attention to a
problem and helps open the window of
opportunity.

7. critique
• Paul Sabatier argues that the streams metaphor
may be an incomplete description of policy
making because it does not describe the policy
process beyond the opening of the window of the
opportunity.
• Nikolaos Zahariadis argues that the streams
approach can be applied to decision
opportunities; a decision to make new or change
existing policy may be more likely when the
streams come together.

8. conclusion
Kingdon provides a rich and multilayered
metaphor of policy making from the early
acceptance of new ideas about public
problems to the active considerations of
solutions as new public policy.
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