Does a Competing Policy Solution Seen as Inevitable Open a Window in the Policy Stream? The Case of Idaho’s Boulder–White Cloud Mountains

Abstract

ABSTRACT The Multiple Streams Theory literature identifies mechanisms to open policy windows in the problem and political streams. A proposed policy deemed inevitable by stakeholders appears to open a policy window in the policy stream allowing policy entrepreneurs to successfully position the inevitable competing policy as the lesser of two evils. For over a decade, U.S. Representative Mike Simpson (R-ID) unsuccessfully introduced legislation to create additional wilderness, solidify existing recreational uses, provide local economic relief, and provide relief for ranchers in the Boulder–White Cloud Mountains area in central Idaho. The Obama administration’s proposal of a competing policy, the unilateral creation of a national monument pursuant to the Antiquities Act, appears to have opened a policy window that allowed Simpson to successfully propose his policy solution as the lesser of two evils. Policy entrepreneurs may use this method when faced with a policy proposal seen as inevitable but not necessarily best.