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Do crises lead to policy change? The multiple streams framework and the European Union’s economic governance instruments

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  • Sabine Saurugger

    (Sciences Po Grenoble, PACTE)

  • Fabien Terpan

    (Sciences Po Grenoble, CECISE)

Abstract

The aim of this paper was to understand in which direction policies change in periods of crisis. Do they lead to the hardening of norms or the introduction of softer rules governing public policies? Based on the study of policy change in two periods of economic governance—the 2003–2005 Stability and Growth Pact crisis, and the 2009–2013 economic governance crisis, this article explains why the policy change in the first case led to softer governance mechanisms, while during the second crisis, soft governance mechanisms were transformed into hard law. In applying the multiple streams framework to study these policy changes, we argue that the wider the window of opportunity and the more coherent the coalition of policy entrepreneurs, the higher the possibility for these actors to push in favour of legally constraining norms. Hence, it is not solely the power or capacity of one policy entrepreneur, in this case—the German government—that leads to hardening of soft law, but the coherence of the coalition the policy entrepreneur is able to build.

Suggested Citation

  • Sabine Saurugger & Fabien Terpan, 2016. "Do crises lead to policy change? The multiple streams framework and the European Union’s economic governance instruments," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 49(1), pages 35-53, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:policy:v:49:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1007_s11077-015-9239-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s11077-015-9239-4
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    3. Bernhard Zeilinger, 2021. "The European Commission as a Policy Entrepreneur under the European Semester," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(3), pages 63-73.
    4. Laura Mastroianni, 2024. "How Do Crises Affect Policy Subsystems? The Evolution of Policy Core Beliefs in the EU Asylum Policy," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(6), pages 1475-1499, November.
    5. Bernhard Zeilinger, 2021. "Die Wirkmächtigkeit des Europäischen Semesters und ihre Auswirkung auf die Interessensvertretung durch Arbeitnehmer:innenverbände," Working Paper Reihe der AK Wien - Materialien zu Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft 231, Kammer für Arbeiter und Angestellte für Wien, Abteilung Wirtschaftswissenschaft und Statistik.
    6. Elizabeth A. Koebele, 2021. "When multiple streams make a river: analyzing collaborative policymaking institutions using the multiple streams framework," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 54(3), pages 609-628, September.
    7. Schreiber, Tim, 2017. "Post-crisis economic policy coordination in the EU: The European Semester as trigger for the Europeanization of national policies? An analysis of the European Semester's impact on French environmental," PIPE - Papers on International Political Economy 29/2017, Free University Berlin, Center for International Political Economy.
    8. Nihit Goyal & Michael Howlett & Araz Taeihagh, 2021. "Why and how does the regulation of emerging technologies occur? Explaining the adoption of the EU General Data Protection Regulation using the multiple streams framework," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(4), pages 1020-1034, October.
    9. Richard Parrish, 2022. "EU Sport Diplomacy: An Idea Whose Time Has Nearly Come," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(5), pages 1511-1528, September.
    10. Matúš Mišík & Veronika Jursová Prachárová, 2023. "Coal Is a Priority for Energy Security, until It Is Not: Coal Phase-Out in the EU and Its Persistence in the Face of the Energy Crisis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-17, April.
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    12. Hossein Shirazi & Valiallah Vahdaninia & Ali Maleki, 2024. "COVID‐19 as an opportunity window for policy change; insights from electronic authentication case study in Iran," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 41(3), pages 471-490, May.

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