policy entrepreneur

Between win–win and the manufacturing of consent: collaborative governance in cannabis policy

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by Christopher K. Ansell, Kevin Orr and Philipp Trein

3 portrait photos of 3 men, authors of the article

In their recent article, Between win–win and the manufacturing of consent: collaborative governance as a lightning rod in cannabis policy, authors Christopher Ansell, Kevin Orr and Philipp Trein explore how power operates in collaborative governance processes by analysing the case of cannabis policy in the San Francisco Bay Area. Drawing on interviews, field observations and document analysis, the authors examine how collaborative arenas shaped policy implementation following California’s legalisation of recreational cannabis in 2018. They argue that, while collaboration was formally inclusive and participatory, the dynamics of power often led not to a balanced, negotiated consensus, but to the emergence of a dominant agenda advanced by activist policy entrepreneurs.

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Policy windows and criminal justice reforms: a Multiple Streams Framework analysis

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by Georg Wenzelburger

In a recent article published in Policy & Politics, Georg Wenzelburger explores how a landmark criminal justice reform in Virginia during the 1990s combined apparently contradictory approaches to sentencing—and why that matters today.

The reform in question abolished parole and sharply increased sentences for violent offenders—hallmarks of a “tough on crime” agenda. But, surprisingly, it also introduced data-driven risk assessments to help divert non-violent offenders away from prison. This mix of punitive and preventative measures was unusual for the time and has since played a key role in the rise of more measured, evidence-informed criminal justice reforms in the United States.

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Three habits of successful policy entrepreneurs

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Paul Cairney Paul Cairney

The ‘multiple streams approach’ (MSA) is one of policy scholarship’s biggest successes. Kingdon’s original is one the highest cited books in policy studies, and there is a thriving programme of empirical application and theoretical refinement.

Yet, I argue that its success is built on shaky foundations because its alleged strength – its flexible metaphor of streams and windows of opportunity – is actually its weakness. Most scholars describe MSA superficially, fail to articulate the meaning of its metaphor, do not engage with state of the art developments, and struggle to apply its concepts systematically to empirical research. These limitations create an acute scientific problem: most scholars apply MSA without connecting it to a coherent research agenda.

In my recent article in Policy & Politics, I seek to solve this problem in three ways. Continue reading →