Applying the Multiple Streams Framework (MSF) to a global range of case studies, this pioneering Modern Guide addresses how policymakers decide what issues to attend to and which choices to make or implement. In doing so it outlines that, far from being the exception, ambiguity and timing are integral parts of every comparative explanation of the policy process. Considering the MSF at the theoretical level, contributors assess the assumptions, structure and logic of the framework before examining the scope of reforms, multilevel influence and interaction, coupling as a process, and the motives of policy entrepreneurs. Using a diverse array of cases from around the world at sub-national, national, and international levels of governance, chapters apply the framework to such diverse topics as climate policy in Europe, soil pollution laws in China, pandemic management in Turkey and Bolsonaro’s gun liberalization agenda in Brazil. Ultimately, the Modern Guide demonstrates that public policy is a process replete with bias, language and symbols among interacting policy actors who generate conflicting messages in staged settings of political power. Situating the framework within broader debates of the policy process, this innovative Modern Guide will be vital to students and scholars of political science, public policy, and public administration and management. With empirical practical applications which advance the MSF, it will also be of use to policymakers globally.

Table of Contents:
Contents: 1 Advancing the Multiple Streams Framework 1 Nikolaos Zahariadis, Nicole Herweg, Reimut Zohlnhöfer, Evangelia Petridou, and Vilém Novotný PART I THEORETICAL CONTRIBUTIONS 2 How far does a policy change go? Explaining the scope of reforms with the Multiple Streams Framework 25 Reimut Zohlnhöfer 3 Policy Termination meets Multiple Streams 43 Georg Wenzelburger & Stefanie Thurm 4 Multilevel Influence and Interaction in the Multiple Streams Framework: A Conceptual Map 62 Åsa Knaggård and Roger Hildingsson 5 The Beating Heart of the Multiple Streams Framework: Coupling as a Process 82 Dana A. Dolan and Sonja Blum 6 From Policy Entrepreneur to Policy Entrepreneurship: Examining the Role of Context on Policy Entrepreneurial Action 104 Evangelia Petridou PART II APPLICATIONS: NATIONAL LEVEL 7 Shifting Ideational Paradigms in Public Health: Connecting Design and Implementation in Greek Health Policy 121 Vassilis Karokis-Mavrikos and Maria Mavriko 8 Multiple Streams, Policy Implementation and the Greek Refugee Crisis 144 Nikolaos Zahariadis and Evangelia Petridou 9 More guns, less violence? Putting the Multiple Streams Framework to the test against Bolsonaro’s gun liberalization agenda 160 Diego Sanjurjo 10 Turkey’s Pandemic Management: Insights from the Multiple Streams Framework Perspective 180 Lacin Idil Oztig 11 The Multiple Streams Framework in an Autocracy: China’s Long-Awaited Soil Pollution Law 200 Annemieke van den Dool PART III SUBNATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL LEVELS 12 Subnational Focusing Events and Agenda Change: The Case of Toxic Algae Bloom and Contaminated Drinking Water in Toledo, Ohio 222 Kristin Taylor, Rob A. DeLeo, Stephanie Zarb, Nathan Jeschke, and Thomas A. Birkland 13 Policy Development in Swedish Crisis Management: Restructuring of Fire and Rescue Services 246 Kerstin Eriksson, Gertrud Alirani, Roine Johansson and Lotta Vylund 14 Subnational Policy Windows: Shanghai’s Grid Screening Policy 265 Stephen Ceccoli and Xinran Andy Chen 15 The Multiple Streams Framework and Multilevel Reinforcing Dynamics: The Case of European and International Climate Policy 285 Katharina Rietig 16 The challenge of applying the Multiple Streams Framework to non-decisions and negative decisions 305 Annette Elisabeth Töller 17 Multiple Streams in the public policymaking processes of the European Union 326 Theofanis Exadaktylos Index