Multiple Streams, Little Causal Explanation

This chapter examines the Multiple Streams Framework (MSF) as an analytical model for agenda-setting and public policy formulation processes. It explores the conceptual foundations of the MSF, including notions of ambiguity, garbage can, and uncertainty, as well as the streams that compose the model and how their convergence – within windows of opportunity and through the action of policy entrepreneurs – can lead to the emergence of new public policies. The chapter then presents a systematic review aimed at identifying how the model has been employed in the national academic literature. Based on this review, the MSF is critically assessed, particularly regarding its limited explanatory capacity, as it has often been applied through methodologies restricted to narrative and descriptive analyses of context, without the development of robust and falsifiable causal theories.