Biståndsplattformen - Analys av en nationell policyprocess

Sammanfattning: This thesis analyzes the policy process of the Swedish aid policy framework that was launched in March 2012 and decided by the Government in March 2014. Initially, the Swedish Minister for Development Cooperation said the process would take half a year. Instead it took two years and a change of Ministers. The thesis aims to understand which factors were constraining the policy process during the first year, and which factors later acted as impetus and made it possible to finish the process. John Kingdon’s theoretical framework of Multiple Streams and Policy Windows are used to structure the analysis. The elements in Kingdon’s theory are used as analyzing categories and the theory proved to be useful and enhanced the understanding of the policy process. The result shows that after the first Minister had raised the issue on the agenda, she lost control of it. The lack of an accepted proposal within the policy community, as well as lack of consensus in the political stream, acted as severe constraints on the process. The change of ministers became a policy window and the new minister acted as a policy entrepreneur, using a tight deadline and a broad consultation round as factors to make the finalization of the policy process possible.