Analyzing open government policy adoption through the multiple streams framework: The roles of policy entrepreneurs in the case of Madrid

Abstract

Open government is expected to promote important changes related to transparency, participation, and collaboration in the public sector. This article analyzes the open government policy-making process in Madrid. In order to explain the adoption process of open government as a public policy, this study uses the “multiple streams framework,” originally developed by Kingdon and recently elaborated on by Zahariadis and Herweg et al. Our empirical data, based on semi-structured interviews and qualitative and quantitative analysis provide evidence about the adoption of open government policy in the city of Madrid and help to illustrate some of the multiple roles that policy entrepreneurs play in the policy adoption process. Overall, this article offers insights on how and why open government is adopted into the public agenda of local governments. Also, this article highlights the importance of analyzing the roles of “policy entrepreneurs” and the duality of transparency and citizen participation in open government policies.