title: Policy windows, policy change, and organizational learning: watersheds in the evolution of watershed management.
abstract: Employing in-depth, elite interviews, this empirical research contributes to understanding the dynamics among policy windows, policy change, and organizational learning. First, although much of the research on agenda setting-how issues attract enough attention that action is taken to address them-has been conducted at the national scale, this work explores the subnational, regional scale. With decentralization, regional-scale environmental decision-making has become increasingly important. Second, this research highlights the role of policy windows and instances of related organizational learning identified by natural resources managers. Having practitioners identify focusing events contrasts with the more typical approach of the researcher identifying a particular focusing event or events to investigate. A focusing event is a sudden, exceptional experience that, because of how it leads to harm or exposes the prospect for great devastation, is perceived as the impetus for policy change.
authors.affiliation: Resource Knowledge Group, School of Planning, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, N2L 3G1. michaels@fes.uwaterloo.ca
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Michaels
authors.forename: Nancy P
authors.initials: NP
authors.lastname: Goucher
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: McCarthy
mesh_terms: D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000379:methods*; D003659:Decision Making, Organizational; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D009864:Ontario; D016730:Program Development / Q000379:methods*; D011640:Public Policy; D045483:Rivers