Ambiguity and choice in european public policy
By: Zahariadis, Nikolaos
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ArticlePublisher: Oxfordshire, UK : Taylor & Francis, June 2008Journal of European Public Policy 15, 4, p. 514-530Abstract: Amending rational institutionalist accounts of EU policy, I use the multiple streams perspective and examples from several policy sectors to explore the impact of two elements of policy choice: policy windows and the dynamics of coupling. I argue that policy outputs are neither exclusively rational nor solely a function of institutional design; rather they depend heavily on a complex interaction between problems, solutions, and politics during fleeting open windows of opportunity. Policy windows pose limitations to rational policy-making by framing the context within which choice is made, while the notion of coupling stresses the impact of entrepreneurial politics and strategies in EU policy-making. The analysis illuminates the limitations of rationality in explaining policy choice, the role of political power in the absence of institutional hierarchies, and the impact of ideas, institutions, and entrepreneurs in the EU policy process
Amending rational institutionalist accounts of EU policy, I use the multiple streams perspective and examples from several policy sectors to explore the impact of two elements of policy choice: policy windows and the dynamics of coupling. I argue that policy outputs are neither exclusively rational nor solely a function of institutional design; rather they depend heavily on a complex interaction between problems, solutions, and politics during fleeting open windows of opportunity. Policy windows pose limitations to rational policy-making by framing the context within which choice is made, while the notion of coupling stresses the impact of entrepreneurial politics and strategies in EU policy-making. The analysis illuminates the limitations of rationality in explaining policy choice, the role of political power in the absence of institutional hierarchies, and the impact of ideas, institutions, and entrepreneurs in the EU policy process
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