European Policy Analysis Volume 2, Number 1, Spring 2016 | Page 199

European Policy Analysis

Figure 1: Events in the multiple streams (our interpretation of descriptions in Kingdon, 1995). Solid connections indicate a positive impact, dotted ones may also have
negative impact

All the participants in each of
these streams play their visible and
invisible roles, either trying to maintain
the status quo, or in trying to fuel
arguments for change. Kingdon describes
the players advancing policy change as
“policy entrepreneurs,” although Skok
(1995, 326) has described these roles
also as the “social entrepreneur,” “issue
initiator,” “policy broker,” “strategist,”
or “caretaker.” Kingdon’s work is heavily
based on a multitude of empirical
observations. From these, he asserts that
policy entrepreneurs endeavor to link
participants and issues across streams,

through a process called “alternative
specification,” so as to open “windows
of opportunities” for policy change. In
Figure 1, we endeavor to map some of the
events that can take place in and between
the three streams. It is obvious that the
creation of windows of opportunity, and
resulting policy change, happens in a
complex networked environment.

Empirical Gaze

I

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n the first stages of our health policy
development research (de Leeuw
1999; Hoeijmakers et al. 2007) we