Keywords
Multiple Streams Framework
Policy entrepreneurs
Serbia
Think tanks
How to Cite
Abstract
The starting point of this paper is John Kingdon’s (1984) Multiple Streams approach used to analyze whether think tanks can be acknowledged as policy entrepreneurs during COVID-19 crisis. For such purpose, the case of Serbian think tanks is examined, analyzing problems they raised, policy alternatives they proposed along with strategies they applied. Moreover, by comparing issues brought by think tanks and Governmental policy, it is assessed to what extent think tanks proposals match with the ones the Government introduced. The findings show that the selected think tanks applied diverse strategies in addressing problems, which were in majority cases accompanied with specific proposals on how to resolve them. In addition to focusing on issues that are in line with their area of work and referring to their pet proposal, think tanks as well raised some new problems, which were not on their agenda before. Finally, more than half of the problems addressed in the Government program were also recognized as important by think tanks. Therefore, it may be concluded that think tanks played the role of policy entrepreneurs during COVID-19 crisis, but in order to assess whether they were the ones that brought such ideas to policy makers, further analysis is required.
References
Bieber, F., Prelec, T., Djolai, M., Emini, D., Marović, J., Majstorović, S., ... & Bartlett, W. (2020). The Western Balkans in Times of the Global Pandemic. Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group, 1-37.
Bogdanović, A. (2016). Think tanks in Serbia: in pursuit of impact. In the Research Forum of the European Movement.
Bowen, G. A. (2009). Document analysis as a qualitative research method. Qualitative Research Journal, 9(2), 27-40. doi:10.3316/QRJ0902027
Brunner, S. (2008). Understanding policy change: Multiple streams and emissions trading in Germany. Global Environmental Change, 18(3), 501-507.
Buldioski, G. (2007). Some Musings on Development of Independent Policy Making and Think Tanking in Central and Eastern Europe. Razumkov Centre, National Security and Defence, (6).
Buldioski, G. (2009). Think Tanks: Untangling the Gordian knot of Policy Research in the Western Balkans. Western Balkans Security Observer-English Edition, (12), 53-67.
Bundgaard, U., & Vrangbæk, K. (2007). Reform by coincidence? Explaining the policy process of structural reform in Denmark. Scandinavian political studies, 30(4), 491-520.
Copeland, P., & James, S. (2014). Policy windows, ambiguity and Commission entrepreneurship: explaining the relaunch of the European Union’s economic reform agenda. Journal of European Public Policy, 21(1), 1-19.
European Council. (2020). Report on the comprehensive economic policy response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Retrieved from <https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2020/04/09/report-on-the-comprehensive-economic-policy-response-to-the-covid-19-pandemic/>.
Farley, J., Baker, D., Batker, D., Koliba, C., Matteson, R., Mills, R., & Pittman, J. (2007). Opening the policy window for ecological economics: Katrina as a focusing event. Ecological Economics, 63(2-3), 344-354.
Galushko, V., & Djordjevic, M. (2018). Think tanks and ‘policy hybrids’ in the Western Balkans and post-soviet space. Policy and Society, 37(2), 206-221.
Gutbrod, H. & Bruckner, T., (2020) Avoiding the asteroid: being constructive and relevant in the pandemic, Retrieved from https://onthinktanks.org/articles/avoiding-the-asteroid-being-constructive-and-relevant-in-the-pandemic
Howlett, M. (1998). Predictable and unpredictable policy windows: institutional and exogenous correlates of Canadian Federal agenda-setting. Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue Canadienne de Science Politique 31 (3), 495–524
IMF. (2020). Policy Tracker. Retrieved from <https://www.imf.org/en/Topics/imf-and-covid19/Policy-Responses-to-COVID-19>.
Kelstrup, J. D. (2016). The politics of think tanks in Europe. Routledge.
Kingdon, J. W. (2014). Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies, Update Edition, with an Epilogue on Health Care’ [2 ed.] Pearson.
Kingdon, J. W., & Stano, E. (1984). Agendas, alternatives, and public policies (Vol. 45, pp. 165-169). Boston: Little, Brown.
McGann, J. G. (2020). 2019 Global Go to Think Tank Index Report. Retrieved from <https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1018&context=think_tanks>.
Münter, M. (2005). Verfassungsreform im Einheitsstaat: Die Politik der Dezentralisierung in Großbritannien. Springer-Verlag.
NALED. (2020). Grey book 12. Retrieved from <https://naled.rs/htdocs/Files/04641/Siva_knjiga_12.pdf>.
Nill, J. (2002). Wann benötigt Umwelt (innovations) politik politische Zeitfenster. Zur Fruchtbarkeit und Anwendbarkeit von Kindons “policy window”-Konzept. Diskussionspapier des IÖW, 54(02).
OECD. (2020). OECD Policy Responses to Coronavirus (COVID-19): Government support and the COVID-19 pandemic. Retrieved from <http://www.oecd.org/coronavirus/policy-responses/government-support-and-the-covid-19-pandemic-cb8ca170/>.
OECD. (2020). The COVID-19 crisis in Serbia. Retrieved from <https://www.wb6cif.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Covid-19-response-in-SRB-27.4.pdf>.
Order on banning gatherings in the Republic of Serbia in public places and indoors, “Official Gazette of RS”, No. 39 of March 21, 2020. Retrieved from <https://www.paragraf.rs/glasila/rs/sluzbeni-glasnik-republike-srbije-39-2020.html>.
Rich, A. (2005). Think tanks, public policy, and the politics of expertise. Cambridge University Press.
Rich, A., McGann, J., Weaver, K., Garnett, M., Thunert, M., Speth, R., & Traub-Merz, R. (2011). Think Tanks in Policy Making–Do They Matter?. Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.
Stone, D. (1996). Capturing the political imagination: Think tanks and the policy process. Psychology Press.
The Government of the Republic of Serbia. (2020). Program of economic measures to mitigate the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and support the Serbian economy. Retrieved from <https://www.mfin.gov.rs/aktivnosti/program-ekonomskih-mera-uputstvo-za-primenu-uredbe-o-fiskalnim-pogodnostima-i-direktnim-davanjima-privrednim-subjektima-u-privatnom-sektoru/>.
United Nations. (2020). World Economic Situation and Prospects: April 2020 Briefing, No. 136. Retrieved from <https://www.un.org/development/desa/dpad/publication/world-economic-situation-and-prospects-april-2020-briefing-no-136/>.
Yin, R. K. (2003). Applied social research methods series. Case study research: Design and methods, 5(1).
Weidenbaum, M. (2010). Measuring the influence of think tanks. Society, 47(2), 134-137.
Wu, T. (2018). Think Tanks’ Influence on the Front-End of the Policymaking Process: Empirical Evidence from the United States. American Journal of Management Science and Engineering, 3(4), 30-37.
Zahariadis, N. (1992). To sell or not to sell? Telecommunications policy in Britain and France. Journal of Public Policy, 12(4), 355-376.
Zahariadis, N. (1995). Markets, states, and public policy: Privatization in Britain and France. University of Michigan Press.
At the moment of the article submission, it is required to the author(s) declare to agree with the conditions and norms of Political Observer - Revista Portuguesa de Ciência Política, as well as guaranteeing the inedited and original character of the text submitted to scientific evolution. Thus, the author(s) declare to accept the instructions and conditions of publication of the journal, sharing with this the author’s rights, respecting the duties of copyright and ceding to the journal the rights over the first publication of the text in its printed and digital version.
This is an open access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. The partial or integral publication and sharing of the text (in institutional repositories, book chapters, periodical publications, social media and professional platforms in the areas of science and research, among others) determines the quotation of the initial publication in the journal and the hyperlinking to the website of Political Observer - Revista Portuguesa de Ciência Política, resorting, to that effect, to the available information in the DOI (Digital Object Identifier) system.
Political Observer incentives the sharing and distribution of the work published by the authors in the journal, raising the impact factors and the number of registered quotes, this way contributing to an open (https://www.ciencia-aberta.pt/) and accessible science (http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/portals-and-platforms/goap/open-science-movement/). Published works are under a Creative Commons License - Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International .
