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The article draws on Kingdon's Multiple Streams Framework to examine the policy entrepreneurs that emerged, the windows of opportunity they identified, and the strategies they used to advocate for mass vaccination during the COVID-19 pandemic. The article indicates that politicians, public figures, and governmental and non-governmental organizations played the role of policy entrepreneurs. The article asserts that the problems of high morbidity, mortality, and economic challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic have social equity implications. Although COVID-19 vaccines are available, there is low political support for vaccination. The article draws attention to the problems, politics, and challenges of asserting COVID-19 vaccination policies. It reports on windows of opportunity policy entrepreneurs identified, and what strategies they used to advocate COVID-19 vaccination, and offers policy implications for addressing social equity concerns and other challenges facing the U.S. economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After decades of policy stagnation, change is on the horizon for passenger rail in Canada, with the recent federal government's approval of VIA Rail's High-Frequency Rail (HFR) proposal within the Quebec-Windsor Corridor. This study applies the Multiple Streams Framework (MSF) to analyze how HFR arrived on the federal government's agenda. Drawing on semi-directive interviews, three expectations based on the MSF are confirmed: evidence of (a) activity in the framework's three streams (problem, policy, politics); (b) a policy window opening because of changes in the politics stream; and (c) a policy entrepreneur who coupled the three streams within that policy window. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 'policy entrepreneur' concept arises from the Multiple Streams' theory of agenda setting in Policy Studies. Through conceptual stretching', the concept is extended to global policy dynamics. Unlike 'advocacy networks' and 'norm entrepreneurs', the discussion addresses the strategies of 'insider' or 'near-governmental' non-state actors. The analysis advances the policy entrepreneur concept in three directions. First, the discussion develops the transnational dimensions of this activity through a case study of International Crisis Group. Second, rather than focusing on charismatic individuals, the discussion emphasizes the importance of organizational resources and reputations for policy entrepreneurship and access into international policy communities. Organizations maintain momentum behind policy solutions and pressures for change over the long term when individuals retire or depart for other positions. Third, the discussion outlines four distinct entrepreneur strategies and techniques that both individuals and organizations cultivate and deploy to enhance their power and persuasion in global policy processes and politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pension system for public servants referred to as «20530» or the «cédula viva» caused severe fiscal damage to the Peruvian state until its reform in 2004. The reform was particularly difficult to accomplish because a number of senior officials and former government authorities were elite beneficiaries of this pension regime. In this article, we explore the reform process led by a government agency, identifying this agency's capacity and the implementation of a strategy of visibilization as key factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on policy entrepreneurship by Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) and how its legislative strategies used mini-windows of opportunity to shift Capitol Hill perspectives of Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT) from political plutonium to an emerging issue requiring a second look. Four phases in the legislative history of DADT are identified: radioactive, contested, emerging, and viable. In all, this article argues that SLDN's entrepreneurship focused on contesting congressional sensibilities to wait or defer on repeal, maintained that every discharge was damaging and transitioned toward a post-repeal mind set. Finally, we illustrate the importance of these transitions by comparing SLDN's 2004 estimated vote count for the introduction of the Military Readiness Enhancement Act with the final 2010 voting results on the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Politics, for better or worse, plays a critical role in health affairs. The purpose of this article is to articulate a role for political analysis of public health issues, ranging from injury and disease prevention to health care reform. It begins by examining how health problems make it onto the policy agenda. Perceptions regarding the severity of the problem, responsibility for the problem, and affected populations all influence governmental responses. Next, it considers how bounded rationality, fragmented political institutions, resistance from concentrated interests, and fiscal constraints usually lead political leaders to adopt incremental policy changes rather than comprehensive reforms even when faced with serious public health problems. It then identifies conditions under which larger-scale transformation of health policy can occur, focusing on critical junctures in policy development and the role of policy entrepreneurs in seizing opportunities for innovation. Finally, it reviews the challenges confronting officials and agencies who are responsible for implementing and administering health policies. Public health professionals who understand the political dimensions of health policy can conduct more realistic research and evaluation, better anticipate opportunities as well as constraints on governmental action, and design more effective policies and programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]