| Sumario: | Kingdon’ (2014) Multiple Stream Framework (MSF) is a novel agenda-setting model, which is recognised for introducing agency into the agenda-setting processes. Empirical evidence indicates that there are cases in which a policy entrepreneur couples the three streams, from the MSF model, to close a policy window, for maintaining a policy status quo. Yet, the closing window policy entrepreneur role has not been developed under the MSF. Therefore, this study has been designed to initially explore the process by which an interest group couples to close a policy window under the MSF.
This research applied the theoretical constructs of the MSF model in a Colombian television policy case study. In this case, two interest groups competed for a different policy result. One of them was a collective policy entrepreneur advocating for a policy status quo. The key findings of the research are that: (i) one interest group acted as a collective policy entrepreneur, and coupled the three streams to introduce a topic on the agenda for maintaining a policy status quo; and (ii) to handle the power imbalance, this coupling strategy was developed within a favourable narrative and problem categorization.
These findings are synthesised and embodied in the following three key propositions: (i) Interest groups aiming for a policy status quo might act as policy entrepreneurs when they are willing to invest their resources to introduce a topic on the agenda, for maintaining a policy status quo. (ii) Policy entrepreneurs that advocate for a policy status quo might use an agenda-setting strategy within the MSF processes. (iii) When there are two competing policy entrepreneurs in an agenda-setting process and one believes that has less power than the other, the agency strategy might involve the re-categorization of the problem and a favourable narrative to handle the power imbalance. To my knowledge, this research is original as it is the first attempt across the agenda-setting literature to empirically study how a policy window is being closed under the MSF. Therefore, this work might be used in future research, to continue the exploration of the policy entrepreneur role in closing a window under the MSF model.
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