Ideas, Networks, and Policy Streams: Privatization in Britain and Germany

This article utilizes insights from work on policy networks and John Kingdon's multiple streams approach to examine the evolution of privatization ideas in Great Britain and Germany. It is argued that differently structured networks affect policy innovation. This study elaborates the different types of networks and their impact on ideas, shows how previously adopted solutions channel subsequent debates by privileging some solutions over others, and suggests that policy ideas are associated with particular political coalitions. Copyright 1995 by The Policy Studies Organization.