Keywords

Multiple streams, three streams, gun control, gun violence, mass shooting, obama, policy, policy change, shooting, focusing event, case study, newtown, aurora, tucson, carthage

Abstract

The Multiple Streams model developed by John Kingdon (1995) and Nikolaos Zahariadis (2007) provides a valuable framework for understanding the nature of policy change. This investigation draws extensively upon the Multiple Streams framework in order to understand the development of gun-control policy initiatives under President Barack Obama. The investigation uses a case-study approach with in-depth analysis of four different mass-shooting events that took place in the United States between 2009 and 2012. Reconstruction of the shooting events and detailed parsing of the Obama administration’s official responses to each incident, when viewed through the Multiple Streams lens, clearly explain why Obama’s aggressive policy initiative was so delayed in its emergence in spite of several shootings and the President’s clearly stated belief that gun-reform was a necessary step for the federal government. While the term “policy change” is broad and may encompass all sorts of governmental responsiveness, the term herein should be interpreted in the narrowest sense: exclusively encompassing legislative initiatives. Ultimately, the investigation concludes that numerous factors, but most prominently concerns about the timing and results of the 2010 Midterm and 2012 General Elections, prevented an aggressive pursuit of gun-reform prior to January 2013. The tragic shooting of 28 people in Newtown, Connecticut, then served as a prime focusing event for the President to aggressively engage a long-standing goal.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2013

Semester

Summer

Advisor

Vieux, Andrea

Degree

Master of Arts (M.A.)

College

College of Sciences

Department

Political Science

Degree Program

Political Science; American and Comparative Politics

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0004865

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0004865

Language

English

Release Date

August 2013

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Masters Thesis (Open Access)

Subjects

Dissertations, Academic -- Sciences, Sciences -- Dissertations, Academic

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