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Multiple streams in member state implementation: politics, problem construction and policy paths in Swiss asylum policy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 July 2016

Fritz Sager Open the ORCID record for Fritz Sager [Opens in a new window]  and
Eva Thomann
Fritz Sager
Affiliation:
KPM Center for Public Management, University of Bern, Switzerland E-mail: fritz.sager@kpm.unibe.ch
Eva Thomann
Affiliation:
Institute of Political Science, Heidelberg University, Germany E-mail: eva.thomann@ipw.uni-heidelberg.de
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Abstract

This article applies the multiple streams approach to a multilevel implementation setting to analyse why Swiss member states enabled the labour market integration of asylum seekers between 2000 and 2003. It argues for integrating the social construction of target groups into the problem stream, and complementing the policy stream with inherited policy paths. A fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis reveals that institutionalised policy paths trump politics in explaining the enabling of labour market integration of asylum seekers. Conversely, a weak political left combined with negative problem constructions aces out policy paths in explaining restrictions of labour market integration. The results illustrate how social constructions influence problem framing. Historical institutionalism theory helps us understand how inherited policy logics feed back with actors’ problem perceptions. Because of the parallels in their multilevel systems, political contexts and problem pressures, this historical case offers salient lessons for the refugee crisis in the European Union today.

Keywords

fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysisimplementationlabour market integrationmultiple streams approachtheory evaluation
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Public Policy , Volume 37 , Issue 3 , September 2017 , pp. 287 - 314
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press, 2016 

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