Decision-Making under Ambiguity and Time Constraints: Assessing the Multiple Streams Framework

Ambiguity and time constraints are facts of political life. Their ubiquity makes policy-making messy, complex, contestable, and less comprehensible. Therefore, traditional models seeing policy-making as an exercise in rational problem-solving have become unconvincing. Conversely, Kingdon’s Multiple Streams Approach (MSA), developed further by Zahariadis, takes ambiguity and policy-maker time constraints as starting points. Although analytical interest in the framework has increased tremendously in recent years, there has not yet been a systematic attempt to assess the potential of such scholarship. Therefore, the aim of this workshop is to bring together a group of researchers interested in and working with the MSA. We welcome conceptual/theoretical papers dealing with the framework and/or applications in domestic, foreign, and international policies. Papers should deal with at least one of the following three main topics that will be at the center of the workshop: (a) Theoretical relevance: Are all key concepts theoretically well developed? Is the MSA a heuristic or can it be seen as a theory from which hypotheses can be derived (and if so, which are they)? Which theoretical revisions (if any) are necessary in order to allow the framework to work in different contexts? (b) Empirical application: Can the framework be falsified? How can the key concepts of the approach be operationalized? Can the MSA be tested quantitatively? (c) Comparison with other theoretical frameworks: How does the MSA fare compared with other theoretical frameworks, like the Advocacy Coalition Framework, the Punctuated Equilibrium lens, Historical Institutionalism, Partisan or Veto Player Theory, and Strategic Constructivism?