Policy Making I Explore Policy Making Process

Policy Making

I explore policy making process issues reach public agenda-based Kingdon's model

The policy making process and how issues reach the public agenda: Kingdon's model

According to John W. Kingdon's book Agendas, alternatives, and public policy, simply because an idea is beneficial to the public interest does not necessarily mean that the idea will come to fruition and be enacted into law. An idea whose 'time has come' in the American system of government must be created by a series of different types of pressures which Kingdon calls problem streams, policy streams, and political streams. Kingdon uses metaphors such as a 'garbage can' and a 'policy primeval soup' to describe how decision-making in Washington takes place: there is nothing logical or linear about it. Kingdon views the creation of policies as the result of these various intersecting 'streams.' First, 'the problem stream' "can push some items higher on the agenda, but it can also retard the upward movement of others, particularly through the budget constraint" (Kingdon 1997: 88).

But while the problem stream may be defined by individual citizens, the 'policy' stream is just as critical. This is made up of interest groups, civil servants, or even academics. They offer a 'stream' of policy solutions which may or may not actually relate to the public's original concerns. Finally, the 'political stream' represented by politicians is affected by the policy stream, but also by other variables such as the need to be reelected. Election results, popular sentiment as measured by polls and other aspects of the policy process all have an impact upon which issues are prioritized and how they are solved by members of Congress and other political professionals (Kingdon 1997: 87).

A good example of how these dimensions operate can be seen in the recent controversy over gun violence. After the school shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary, there was a great deal of pressure upon Congress to pass a bill regulating firearms. This is the 'problem stream.' Various pro and anti-gun control groups offered proposals, spanning from banning assault rifles to doing nothing. The value of these proposals varied in terms of their likely efficacy and the groups that supported them all had their own agendas, based upon their missions and bases of support. The extent to which politicians were influenced depended upon everything from the elected official's personal convictions; his contingency; funding sources for his political activities; and the policy dynamic of Washington. Gun violence is a frequently-articulated concern in the American political discourse, but events such as the shooting and systemic factors such as increasingly expensive and partisan election campaigns influenced the recent defeat of gun control legislation in the Congress. The NRA has a major influence upon elections in many conservative states, and its support for or against a candidate can make or break many congressperson's futures.