Reframing Policy Windows

Kingdon (1995) defined a policy window as “an opportunity for advocates of proposals to push their pet solutions or to push attention to their special problems” (p. 165). Policy windows would then be open only for a short period of time, providing fleeting moments for policy actors to take notice and make a move. This perspective sees a “window” as an opening in the policy process, a transom that temporarily emerges above a seemingly locked door. Kindgon’s metaphor is useful and often cited, but presupposes a particular understanding of “policy”—a linear process save the incursions due to an open window.

But what if we think of policy windows differently—that these are not windows in policy, but that these windows are the policies themselves, through which we might see social spaces and interactions. Theory could help us to clean the windows, so to speak, so we could better see the social spaces beyond the panes. Related to education, policy windows could be referenced in the way we might see racialization through school choice, or nationalism through innovation strategies. These windows are not then opportunities for policy entrepreneurship, but viewpoints from which we might understand policy effects.

Which theories help us to see through the windows?  Which policies offer the best view?

Ref:

Kingdon, J. W. (1995). Agendas, alternatives, and public policies, 2nd ed. New York: HarperCollins.