Disaster, Crisis and Shock: A Meta-Analysis of Focusing Events in Public Policy

• In Event: Advances in Theories of the Policy Process

Abstract

In 1984, John Kingdon introduced the idea of “focusing events” in the policy process. Thomas BIrkland, in After Disaster, sought to develop a way to systematically understand the role of these events in the policy process. The idea of focusing events is present in virtually every major theory of policy change. Focusing events are central to the Multiple Streams Framework (MSF), events are important as exogenous shocks in the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) and triggers of policy punctuations in Punctuated Equilibrium Theory (PET). Despite the concept’s proliferation across the policy sciences, critics argue the term “focusing events'' has been haphazardly applied to explain all crises, despite Birkland's emphasis on the idea of a potential focusing event and the differential agenda effects of disaster. Complicating matters further, the last two decades have seen a marked shift in the temporal dimensions of hazards. Unlike the short-duration events described by Birkland, many crises, like the COVID-19 pandemic or climate change linger for weeks, months, or longer, creating dynamics that are considerably different from those seen in shorter crises.

With this mind we seek to better understand the wide-reaching influence of focusing events in the policy process literature This study uses a content analysis of empirical, peer-reviewed articles (N=742) from 2000 to 2019 that use the theory of focusing events and cite two foundational pieces of literature (Kingdon 1997, Birkland 1997). Our aim is to establish a coherent research agenda for examining the role disasters play in shaping issue attention, problem framing, group mobilization and agenda setting. Findings suggest that while the use of focusing events is frequent, complete and consistent operational definitions and systematic use in qualitative and quantitative analyses to assess the influence of focusing events in the policy process is needed to develop the theory. We conclude with a set of recommendations for future studies.

Authors

• Kristin Taylor, Wayne State University

• Thomas A. Birkland, North Carolina State University

• Rob A. DeLeo, Bentley University