An emotional perspective on the Multiple Streams Framework

Bibliographic Data

ID6330010
AuthorsMoshe Maor (0000-0003-0411-2977, Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy and Strategy Reichman University Herzliya Israel, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume52
Issue4
Pages925-940
Publication date2024-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePolicy Studies Journal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0190-292X • E-ISSN: 1541-0072
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/psj.12568
OpenAlexW4403215388
LanguageEN
Citations received18
References cited137

Emotions are central to human behavior and, consequently, play a significant role in policymaking. While the Multiple Streams Framework (MSF) incorporates the notion of “public mood” into the political stream, this concept primarily focuses on a fleeting, less intense, and diffuse emotional state that is not necessarily linked to a specific triggering event or policy‐related object. To address this limitation, the current article draws on robust findings from political psychology, viewing and interpreting the MSF through an emotional lens. It investigates the intersections between emotions, on the one hand, and the assumptions and structural elements of the MSF, on the other, by sharpening existing concepts—such as the emotional agenda (policy) window, emotional decision window, and emotional policy entrepreneurs—to examine emotionality in policy dynamics. It concludes by discussing how an emotional perspective on the MSF can help scholars generate nuanced hypotheses, overcome the MSF's metaphorical language, and gauge when policy may be in search of a rationale

Computer network · Perspective (graphical · Political science · STREAMS · Computer Science · Opinion Dynamics and Social Influence · Artificial Intelligence