This book furthers the ongoing theoretical development of the multiple streams framework, assessing its applicability to European Union (EU) policy-making processes. It systematically defines and identifies functional equivalents for all of the frameworks core concepts at the EU level and extends the framework in order to explain agenda-setting and decision-making. Furthermore, the book derives a set of explicit hypotheses to empirically assess the extent to which the (modified) framework is able to explain timing, agenda prominence, and policy change (or a lack thereof) for the EU natural gas directives passed in 1998, 2003, and 2009. The analysis documents that the framework is well-suited to explain the EU policy process in general and reveals where additional theoretical refinements are required.
Chapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. Theoretical approach to the policy process: the multiple streams framework.- Chapter 3. The European natural gas market and its regulation.- Chapter 4. The first gas directive process.- Chapter 5. The second gas directive process.- Chapter 6. The third gas directive process.- Chapter 7. Conclusion.
Nicole Herweg is a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Political Science at Heidelberg University, Germany. Her primary field of interest is comparative public-policy analysis, in particular European Union energy policy. She has published in leading political science journals, including
European Journal of Political Research,
Policy Studies Journal, and
Policy Sciences.
This book should be read as a benchmark theory building application of the multiple streams approach (MSA) that--through careful development and assessment of hypotheses--demonstrates precisely how MSA can be mapped onto a European context. No doubt policy scholars, advocates, and analysts will find its contents useful for years to come. '
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