Multiple Streams, Focusing Events, and the Policy Process: Testing and Refining the Multiple Streams Approach

Fifteen years ago I adapted Kingdon’s notion of focusing events to the study of the agenda dynamics evident after major accidents and natural disasters. The literature and subsequent research have identified some shortcomings in this research. If these shortcomings were overcome, our understanding of focusing events and the streams approach would be improved. In this paper, my co-author and I reframe “focusing events” theory by reconsidering the variables that make such events “focal.” My original models focused on event attributes without accounting for the state of the policy and politics streams, nor did it consider what Sabatier describes as the stable and dynamic parameters of the policy system that shape agenda attention and policy change. We begin with a “taxonomy” of focusing to separate events that are purposefully created (protests and social movements) from “focal crisis events” such as sudden accidents or disasters. Then the paper (1) sharpens the definition of the various types of focusing events, (2) provides a more sophisticated model of the process that will be more closely aligned with the implied hypotheses contained in the multiple streams model and (3) incorporates the most important features of the advocacy coalition and policy streams frameworks into a model of focusing event politics that remains true to the powerful idea of streams, but that will also allow us to predict when streams are most likely to come together and yield an opportunity for policy change. This theory will then allow us to better understand the relationship between a focusing event and a policy change. We conclude the paper with comments on methodological considerations for future research, and preliminary research in the domain of aviation safety.