Foreign policy entrepreneurs, policy windows, and ‘pragmatic engagement’: reconsidering insights of the multiple streams framework and the Obama administration’s 2009 policy shift towards military-run Myanmar

Haacke, Jürgen (2021) Foreign policy entrepreneurs, policy windows, and ‘pragmatic engagement’: reconsidering insights of the multiple streams framework and the Obama administration’s 2009 policy shift towards military-run Myanmar. Foreign Policy Analysis, 17 (3). ISSN 1743-8594

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Abstract

This article aims to contribute to the evolving dialogue between foreign policy analysis and public policy with reference to John Kingdon's multiple streams approach. It problematizes how one of the key concepts of MSA—policy windows—has been used in applications to foreign policy and suggests that policy windows may be more difficult to exploit than illustrations of successful foreign policy entrepreneurship indicate. Indeed, the article argues that policy windows can be either small or large; their size will likely differ not least because policy windows are situated within numerous contexts. With reference to instances of foreign policy redirection, the article highlights four such contexts: the placement and access of foreign policy entrepreneurs; the level of contestation surrounding a problematic but prevailing policy; geopolitical pressures; and ideas guiding foreign policy. The article moreover suggests that by contextualizing policy windows and considering also how contingency may affect policy windows, it seems possible to integrate insights from foreign policy analysis into current theorizing about foreign policy entrepreneurship drawing on the multiple streams framework. The empirical illustration examines the policy window that opened up for policy entrepreneurs to recast longstanding US policy toward military-run Myanmar as the Obama administration took office.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://academic.oup.com/fpa
Additional Information:	© 2021 The Author
Divisions:	International Relations
Subjects:	J Political Science > JZ International relations
Date Deposited:	26 Apr 2021 10:45
Last Modified:	27 Mar 2024 23:45
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/110224

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