This book furthers the ongoing theoretical development of the multiple streams framework, assessing its applicability to European Union (EU) policy-making processes. It systematically defines and identifies functional equivalents for all of the framework’s core concepts at the EU level and extends the framework in order to explain agenda-setting and decision-making. Furthermore, the book derives a set of explicit hypotheses to empirically assess the extent to which the (modified) framework is able to explain timing, agenda prominence, and policy change (or a lack thereof) for the EU natural gas directives passed in 1998, 2003, and 2009. The analysis documents that the framework is well-suited to explain the EU policy process in general and reveals where additional theoretical refinements are required.

This book furthers the ongoing theoretical development of the multiple streams framework, assessing its applicability to European Union (EU) policy-making processes. It systematically defines and identifies functional equivalents for all of the framework’s core concepts at the EU level and extends the framework in order to explain agenda-setting and decision-making. Furthermore, the book derives a set of explicit hypotheses to empirically assess the extent to which the (modified) framework is able to explain timing, agenda prominence, and policy change (or a lack thereof) for the EU natural gas directives passed in 1998, 2003, and 2009. The analysis documents that the framework is well-suited to explain the EU policy process in general and reveals where additional theoretical refinements are required.

This book furthers the ongoing theoretical development of the multiple streams framework, assessing its applicability to European Union (EU) policy-making processes. It systematically defines and identifies functional equivalents for all of the framework’s core concepts at the EU level and extends the framework in order to explain agenda-setting and decision-making. Furthermore, the book derives a set of explicit hypotheses to empirically assess the extent to which the (modified) framework is able to explain timing, agenda prominence, and policy change (or a lack thereof) for the EU natural gas directives passed in 1998, 2003, and 2009. The analysis documents that the framework is well-suited to explain the EU policy process in general and reveals where additional theoretical refinements are required.