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Multiple Streams and Power Sector Policy Change: Evidence from the Feed‐in Tariff Policy Process in Japan
Abstract
Sustainability concerns have been placing public policy in the power sector under pressure to realize a radical change. However, energy policy is often subject to strong path dependency and inertia that make such change difficult. This study contributes to the theoretical understanding of the conditions under which radical policy changes happen in the power sector, based on the Multiple Streams Approach. Through a case study of the Feed‐in Tariff program for increasing renewable energy deployment in Japan, it is elucidated that the elevation of the generous program, which is fundamentally incompatible to previous policy processes, was a result of the intersection of problem, policy, and politics streams. The findings provide strong evidence to support our claim that political parties embrace a policy proposal that is not necessarily “softened” within the policy network when an existing policy community itself is perceived as a problem.
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... Multiple energy types [46] Performing tests through case studies of policies for different issues, varied sectors, and delimitations. ...
... As for energy transition, the application of one or more sources of renewable energy is directly influenced by local laws and public policies. In this sense, Tanaka et al. [46] showed that, in Japan, electric utilities significantly impact the decisions regarding energy policy, which results in significant difficulties when the government implements legislation regarding energy generation from renewable sources. Therefore, it is essential to consider all the possibilities and feasibility of implementing these energies [34]; this becomes critical when deciding whether to create or continue a sustainable power generation project within universities. ...
... [36,65] How do social beliefs and interests impact the implementation of a renewable energy source? [46,61,63] What is the influence of public policies to ensure sustainable development in the region by applying renewable energy? [36,63] Goal 4 refers to quality education. ...
Universities play a pivotal role in modern society and must lead the way in achieving energy efficiency, directly contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Like small towns in resource consumption and population mobility, many universities and research centers face significant challenges transitioning to renewable electricity systems. This study aims to (i) map the current scientific literature on renewable energy sources used by universities; (ii) discuss the drivers, barriers, and trends of implementing renewable energy; and (iii) establish a connection with the SDGs. More specifically, the authors conducted a systematic literature review based on three stages: (i) data collection, (ii) bibliometric analysis, and (iii) content analysis. Forty-two articles were obtained and defined as the studied sample. The findings of this review illuminate critical research themes, leading countries in renewable energy adoption, and the prevalent electricity sources, shedding light on the primary authors shaping the discourse. Wind and solar energy exhibit a notable growth trajectory, offering environmentally friendly alternatives compared to conventional sources. Furthermore, it is essential to highlight that the distribution of research documents in the sample is uneven, with a predominant concentration in European countries. Additionally, the study identifies the field’s key drivers, barriers, and emergent trends. The theoretical contributions encompass a comprehensive compilation of renewable energy sources, discernible research trajectories, and strategies to navigate obstacles. In practical terms, this work offers valuable insights for the selection of energy sources and stakeholder engagement, facilitating informed decision-making processes. This article’s novelty lies in its holistic examination of renewable energy adoption in university settings, providing a comprehensive overview of the current landscape and actionable insights for stakeholders seeking sustainable energy solutions within these institutions. This aligns with multiple SDGs, including Goal 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), Goal 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), and Goal 13 (Climate Action), underscoring the critical role of universities in driving sustainable development.
... Clearly, Brexit has different interpretations (pre-legislative referendum, populist pressure, dissatisfactions with European policies connected to Euroscepticism, concerns about unchecked migration, among other factors such as demand for national sovereignty) [16,17]. ...
... It could be argued that Brexit was developed in order to empower the people and enable them to decide their sovereignty. Previous scholars applied the Multiple Streams Approach (MSA) to explain the policy process model [17]. The 'MSA' is a way of thinking about three aspects of policymaking. ...
... The MSA model proposes that policymaking starts with identifying problems in society that requires attention, analysing the potential solutions, setting agenda, and implementing policy changes. However, the MSA model fail to articulate the meaning of its metaphor related to the "swings of the national mood, vagaries of public opinion, election results, changes of administration and interest group pressure campaigns" [17] (p. 468). ...
Memorable events of the 21st century that will be rightly or wrongly be remembered includes the global financial crisis of 2007/08, the election of Mr Donald Trump as President of the United States of America, and Brexit (the United Kingdom (UK) voting to leave the European Union) in 2016. Others include the emergence of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and the war between Russia and Ukraine. Since 2016, Brexit has continued to dominate global politics. Conceptually, this article explores the Brexit dilemma, the formalization of Brexit agreements, and the post-Brexit impact on the economy and society. How did Brexit happen? What are the underlying causes of Brexit? Is Brexit connected to Euroscepticism and populism? By evaluating these contexts, important issues and debates can be reconciled to advance knowledge on Brexit, UK politics, the regional political system, and the rise of populism. This article is currently relevant since it coincides with an obvious upsurge in interest in the post-Brexit Global Britain.
... The MSF has undergone some evolution over the years beginning from J. Kingdon's (1984) one locational focus (USA), time (post-war period to the 1980s), and few policy domains (health and transport) to many places, periods, and policy areas (Brunner, 2008;Kagan, 2018;Tanaka et al., 2020). MSF-inspired studies have shown that the concepts and metaphor are flexible enough to be applied to almost any place, time, or policy, including but not limited to alternative energy development policy (Kagan, 2018), power sector development policy (Tanaka et al., 2020), logging policy (Sotoudeh Foumani et al., 2021), conservation policy (Dunning, 2021) and forest and wildlife policy (Asante, 2022). ...
... The MSF has undergone some evolution over the years beginning from J. Kingdon's (1984) one locational focus (USA), time (post-war period to the 1980s), and few policy domains (health and transport) to many places, periods, and policy areas (Brunner, 2008;Kagan, 2018;Tanaka et al., 2020). MSF-inspired studies have shown that the concepts and metaphor are flexible enough to be applied to almost any place, time, or policy, including but not limited to alternative energy development policy (Kagan, 2018), power sector development policy (Tanaka et al., 2020), logging policy (Sotoudeh Foumani et al., 2021), conservation policy (Dunning, 2021) and forest and wildlife policy (Asante, 2022). The MSF has mostly been applied to the policy stages of agenda-setting and decision-making, and on rare occasions applied to policy implementation and termination (Herweg et al., 2015(Herweg et al., , 2017. ...
One important policy that has witnessed both change and stability is Ghana’s 1948 Forest Policy. The Policy’s implementation period has been the longest, spanning from the colonial era in 1948 to the post-colonial period of 1994. It also expanded government control over off-reserve forests and encouraged the persistent exploitation of the resource to generate foreign exchange. It is against this backdrop that this study adopts the multiple streams framework (MSF) as an analytical perspective to address the question of why and how Ghana’s forest and wildlife policy changed in 1994. Dwelling on both primary and secondary data, the study found that the Ghanaian case confirms the MSF assumption that the coupling of the streams of problem, policy, and politics via a policy window by policy entrepreneurs (PEs) will result in policy change. However, in an instance where PEs are unable to provide technically and politically feasible alternatives, the existing policy will remain unchanged. The study recommends that PEs should be tactful and sensitive to their environment to achieve success.
... Policy entrepreneurs-individuals who champion an idea and are always alert to an open policy window [15]. The pivotal role of these actors is to identify the opportune moment and act [35]. Policy entrepreneurs can be individuals or organizations, either from within or outside the government, willing to invest time, energy, expertise, and even financial resources in advocating for policies they deem essential or opposing them [15,20]. ...
Indonesia Social Forestry Program was first implemented on the island of Java in the area of the State Forestry Company (Perhutani). “Social forestry” initiatives are emerging to integrate local communities into forest governance. Perhutani implemented the Managing Forest with Community (PHBM) program and formed a Forest Village Community (LMDH) institution. The main aim of this program is to improve the welfare of forest farming communities through tree planting, intercropping, and animal husbandry activities. However, after four decades of implementing the social forestry program, up to fifteen years after the implementation of PHBM, it is considered that it has not answered the challenges of Java’s forests, such as access, poverty in communities around the forest, the ecological crisis, and conflicts over forest area management. In 2017, the Indonesian government introduced a new social forestry scheme in the Perhutani working area, known as the “Social Forestry Forest Utilization Permit” (IPHPS). This research utilizes a qualitative approach, collecting primary and secondary data. This study discusses why and how new social forestry (IPHPS) became part of the government policy agenda. Using the Multiple Streams Framework, this study found complex dynamics surrounding the policy formulation process, leading to the formulation of win-win policies that attempt to cover diverse interests. The political stream is dominant in converging problem and policy streams. The Ministry of Environment and Forestry, acting as a Policy Entrepreneur, utilized the policy window to formulate the IPHPS policy framework and sought to convince other policy actors. This study showed that public issues involving political interests tend to capture attention quickly. Furthermore, it showed that public policy formulation is fraught with contesting various stakeholders’ interests.
... Industrial players and interest groups had been entangled in the Japanese policy network as a part of the "Iron Triangles", which they composed with LDP's "Zoku gi'in" (parliamentarians) and bureaucrats (relevant authorities) [51]. But they did not lose their long-standing institutional ties to the government, even after many of them had grown sufficiently to compete in the international market, and the custom of large companies participating in national projects continued [17]. ...
Sociotechnical development is often described as an evolutionary process of a series of connected changes in different domains, including technology, the economy, institutions, innovation policies, behavior, culture, ecology, and belief systems. Many experts point to the great transformative potential of automated vehicles in the mobility sector, and to a variety of pathways that lead to an imagined future made possible by automated driving technologies. However, the differences in state behavior and governance approaches which are entangled in such emerging technologies are less understood, despite their potential to influence the trajectory of sociotechnical development. This chapter examines the modes and methods of governance in Japan with respect to automated driving. In order to illuminate the Japanese characteristics, we compare them with the German approach. We provide a brief comparison of the two democratic and capitalist countries from three perspectives—politics, polity, and policies. We then present Japan’s policy process, policy actors, and recent changes in its approach to automated driving. In Japan, automated driving is interrelated with other policy areas, such as science and technology, information technology, and demographic change issues, and has been contextualized primarily in relation to the economy, particularly during the term of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (2012–2020). The state has historically tended to intervene in technological development, and in recent years the Cabinet has attempted to exercise a more top-down political leadership through policy conferences. While letting the government appear to be taking a leadership role, relevant industrial players also seem to exert a significant influence on the direction of automated driving policies through both formal and informal channels. To enable effective and efficient governance in complex fields such as mobility, researchers, policymakers, and others involved in governance require a good understanding of the factors that could influence future development pathways. Future research should build on these findings and conduct further comparative analyses between countries that have the potential to play a leading role in the implementation of automated driving.
... If so, why (Plutzer et al, 1998;Seabrooke, 2012)? Or, is reflexive learning possible in each stream of the framework and, if so, why and how might it occur (Tanaka et al, 2020)? As a result, a learning perspective on the MSF can shed further light on the mechanisms underpinning the dynamics of each stream. ...
Policy innovation is considered important for addressing major challenges such as climate change and the sustainable energy transition. Although policy learning is likely to play a key role in enabling policy innovation, the link between them remains unclear despite much research on both topics. To address this gap, we move beyond a binary treatment of policy innovation and differentiate policy problem innovation from policy instrument innovation and policy process innovation. Subsequently, we synthesise the literature on policy learning with the research on the multiple streams framework (MSF), a well-known lens for explaining policy innovation. Like earlier policy learning studies, we distinguish several types of learning by posing the key questions of learning, but in the context of each stream of the MSF: who learns (actors), what (beliefs), how (modes), and to what effect (ripening). This new conceptualisation clarifies the relationship of each type of policy learning to the varieties of policy innovation. Further, it indicates that policy learning is likely to result in policy innovation if and only if it influences the coupling among the three streams during a window of opportunity – through policy entrepreneurship – and not otherwise. We conclude with the implications of this study for future research on policy innovation, policy learning, and the MSF.
... Kingdon's MSF and its elaborations have henceforth been employed as useful policy analytical tools. For example, it was used to explain the policymaking process in Madrid (Ruvalcaba-Gomez et al., 2020), the transportation policy in China (Ge, Shi, & Wang, 2020), the power sector policy change in Japan (Tanaka et. al., 2020), and Obama's No child left behind waiver policy in the USA (Angervil,202). ...
The Philippine government enacted the Anti-terrorism Act of 2020 amidst the COVID-19 outbreak, raising the question of how a non-health and likewise controversial legislation was made possible during a pandemic. Using the Multiple Streams Framework analytical tools, this single-case qualitative study analyzed relevant speeches, press releases, and online interview transcripts to shed light on the question. The findings suggest two processes that are critical in understanding the passage of the new law. The first is the repositioning of terrorism within the immediate and pressing problem of COVID-19 pandemic, which brought urgency and legitimacy to the problem of terrorism despite it being a non-health issue. The second process is the securitizing of the pandemic and the government's response to this, which eventually provided the favorable political environment for the enactment of the new law. As these two critical processes were fostered by President Duterte himself, this study calls attention to how the state's most powerful political actor can usher in a shift in state policy by actively intervening to define the problem, reinforce a proposed policy option, and cultivate a favorable political landscape for the enactment of the desired policy option.
... The MSF has undergone over three decades of theoretical refinement and empirical applications, moving from Kingdon's (Kingdon, 1984) one locational focus (United States), time (post-war period to the 1980s), and few policy domains (health and transport) to many places, periods, and policy areas (Herweg et al., 2017;Tanaka et al., 2020;etc.). Zohlnhöfer and others (2015) corroborate the above by also identifying three areas of the MSF extension, consisting of policy areas, policy stages, and units of analyses. ...
The quest for answers to global policy changes has engaged many a policy researcher's agenda. This has led to the adoption and application of various theoretical perspectives in a bid to explain the complex policy change process for better understanding. However, the highly contested reasons for policy change underpinned by context‐specific variables in the extant literature demand more empirically supported studies. This article responds by adopting the multiple streams framework (MSF) to explain and deepen understanding of why policies change in a developing African country, specifically Ghana, with the forest and wildlife policy (FWP) as a case study. Adopting a qualitative case study design, the study empirically supports the MSF assumption that the effective coupling of the three streams of problem, policy, and politics through a window of opportunity was crucial in Ghana's FWP change in 2012. This study attempts to balance practice and theory. Brant, Hanna K., Nathan Myers, and Katherine L. Runge. 2017. “Promotion, Protection, and Entrepreneurship: Stakeholder Participation and Policy Change in the 21st Century Cures Initiative.” Politics & Policy 45(3): 372–404. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12201. Dunning, Kelly Heber. 2021. “Unlikely Conservation Policy Making in a Polarized Congress: A Multiple Streams Analysis of ‘America's Most Successful Conservation Program.’” Politics & Policy 50: 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12448. Tanaka, Yugo, Andrew Chapman, Tetsuo Tezuka, and Shigeki Sakurai. 2020. “Multiple Streams and Power Sector Policy Change: Evidence from the Feed‐in Tariff Policy Process in Japan.” Politics & Policy 48(3): 464–89. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12357. La búsqueda de respuestas a los cambios de políticas globales ha ocupado la agenda de muchos investigadores de políticas. Esto ha llevado a la adopción y aplicación de varias perspectivas teóricas en un intento por explicar el complejo proceso de cambio de políticas para una mejor comprensión. Sin embargo, las razones altamente controvertidas para el cambio de políticas sustentadas por variables específicas del contexto en la literatura existente exigen estudios más respaldados empíricamente. Este artículo responde adoptando el marco de corrientes múltiples (MSF) para explicar y profundizar la comprensión de por qué las políticas cambian en un país africano en desarrollo, específicamente Ghana, con la política forestal y de vida silvestre (FWP) como estudio de caso. Adoptando un diseño de estudio de caso cualitativo, el estudio respalda empíricamente la suposición de MSF de que el acoplamiento efectivo de las tres corrientes de problema, política y política a través de una ventana de oportunidad fue crucial en el cambio de FWP de Ghana en 2012. Este estudio intenta equilibrar la práctica y teoría. 为解释全球政策变革，许多人提出了政策研究人员的议程。这导致了不同理论观点的采纳和应用，以更好地解释复杂的政策变革过程。不过，现有文献中以特定情境变量为基础的政策变革的原因存在高度争议，需要更多的实证支持研究。为此，本文采用多源流框架(MSF)，以森林和野生动植物政策(FWP)作为案例研究，解释和加深对“加纳政策出现变革”的理解。通过采用定性案例研究设计，本研究从实证上支持MSF的假设，即通过机会之窗对问题流、政策流和政治流进行有效耦合一事对2012年加纳森林与野生动植物政策变革而言至关重要。本研究试图平衡实践与理论。
Kingdon's Multiple Streams Model is used in various political contexts, especially to understand agenda-setting processes in Europe and North America. Based on the elements that structure the Multiple Streams Model, this research analyzed the normative, contextual, and political factors that favored the insertion of the mining theme in the Brazilian government's agenda, contributing to the approval of changes in the legislation that regulates mineral policy. As for the problem stream, the results indicate that the discussion about changes in Brazil's mineral policy rekindled when the country was experiencing an economic crisis. The amendment found by the formulators was to update the legislation briefly (solutions stream). In the politics stream, the change in the presidency of the federal government is the factor that exerted the greatest influence for mining to return to the government agenda, finding fertile ground for the approval of changes in mineral policy.
Kingdon's multiple streams approach is popular because its metaphor and flexible concepts can be applied empirically in most contexts. However, this feature is also its weakness. Most scholars apply MSA superficially, without describing its metaphor's meaning or connecting concepts to empirical results. This article solves this problem by producing one MSA narrative from a diverse collection of empirical studies. Our hero is the 'policy entrepreneur' who knows that the pursuit of ambitious aims such as 'evidence-based policymaking' requires framing a problem, having a solution ready, and exploiting the motive and opportunity of policymakers to select it.
Feed-in tariff (FiT) policy approaches for renewable energy (RE) deployment are employed in many nations around the world. Although FiTs are considered effective in boosting RE deployment, the issue of increasing energy bills and social burden is an often-reported negative impact of their use. The FiT has been employed in Japan since 2012, following after many developed countries, and, as was experienced in other nations, led to a social burden imparted on society significantly higher than initial government estimates. Although policy decision making does not necessarily reflect international policy experience, it is still prudent to ask how international policy experiences of social burden increase were considered within the Japanese approach. In this research, we analyzed the transfer process by adapting a conventional model to develop more objective observations than was previously possible, by setting a benchmark for evaluation based on prior international experiences. We identified two streams of policy transfer, each led by different actors; the government and representatives of the National Diet of Japan (Diet). Both actors were exposed to the same experiences, however the interpretation, application to policy development and priority settings employed were vastly different. Although the framework can only assess policy learning processes, we have found that the government undertook a reasonable and rational process toward learning, while, on the other hand, the modified bill developed by the Diet members did not thoroughly derive learnings in the same way, due to cognitive and political reasons, and specifically, the issue of limiting social burden was not addressed.
Renewable portfolio standards (RPS) are an important policy tool for reducing carbon emissions and advancing the global shift toward renewable energy. As the U.S. federal government backs away from commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, subnational governments play an increasingly important role in mitigating climate change. In June 2015, Hawaii became the first state in the United States to adopt a 100% RPS. Through understanding the conditions that gave rise to Hawaii’s RPS, policy actors will be better informed as they navigate policy processes in other states and jurisdictions. This study uses Kingdon’s Multiple Streams Framework (MSF) to explore the policy process that led to Hawaii’s 100% RPS. Data were collected during the summer of 2016 via interviews with 25 key policy actors and informants in Hawaii. Expectations based on the MSF are confirmed, and the results suggest factors that might be included or explored in future studies of RPS adoption.
While John Kingdon's Multiple Streams Approach (MSA) remains a key reference point in the public policy literature, few have attempted to assess MSA holistically. To assess its broader impact and trends in usage, we combine in-depth analysis of representative studies, with comprehensive coverage of MSA-inspired articles, to categorize its impact. We find that Kingdon's work makes two separate contributions. First, it has contributed to the development of “evolutionary” policy theories such as punctuated equilibrium. Second, it has prompted a large, dedicated, and often empirical, literature. However, most MSA empirical applications only engage with broader policy theory superficially. The two contributions are oddly independent of each other. We argue that these trends in application are due largely to its intuitive appeal and low “barrier to entry.” Drawing on other policy approaches, we offer suggestions to improve the MSA-inspired literature.
This study uses content analysis of recent Multiple Streams Approach (MSA) research to determine the scope of MSA applications, examining the consistency, and coherence with which concepts of MSA are applied. Our analysis examines peer-reviewed articles testing MSA concepts available in English published from 2000 through 2013 (N = 311). Among other findings, we observe that MSA is applied to study 65 different countries, at multiple levels of governance, across 22 different policy areas, and by researchers spanning the globe. Our findings suggest that while MSA is prolific, consistency across applications—in terms of operationalization of MSA core concepts—is needed to facilitate theoretical development of the approach.
This article suggests theoretical refinements to the multiple streams framework (MSF) that make it applicable to parliamentary systems and the decision-making stage of the policy process. Regarding the former, the important role of political parties in parliamentary democracies is highlighted. Party policy experts are expected to be members of the policy communities in the policy stream and to promote viable policy alternatives in their respective parties, while the party leadership is concerned with adopting policies in the political stream. With regard to the latter, the introduction of a second coupling process to analyse decision making more rigorously is suggested. Moreover, the article provides operational definitions of the framework's key concepts when applied to parliamentary systems and derives a systematic set of falsifiable hypotheses for agenda-setting and decision making in these systems, thus addressing one of the main critiques against the MSF – namely that no hypotheses can be derived from it.
Well-being has recently risen rapidly up the political agenda in Britain and beyond, signalled most clearly by Prime Minister Cameron's announcement in 2010 that well-being measures developed by the Office for National Statistics would be used to guide public policies. Here we seek to explain why well-being has risen up the British political agenda, drawing on Kingdon's multiple streams approach. While this approach has considerable merit, it does not acknowledge the complexity of multi-level governance in which policy, politics and problem streams can operate at different territorial levels. As such, we argue that the match between policy, politics and problem streams has to be not only temporal, but also spatial. The consequence is that, while in relation to measurement a paradigm shift may be taking place, in terms of decisive action there is some way to go before well-being can be described as ‘an idea whose time has come’.
This article argues that among all policy fields exhibiting externalities of a global scale, energy stands out on four dimensions: vertical complexity, horizontal complexity, higher entailed costs, and stronger path dependency. These structural attributes are at odds with contemporary key challenges of energy security, energy justice, and low carbon energy transition. With regard to the latter, energy governance challenges occur related to unclear levels of authority and weak resilience. This has implications for energy scholarship, specifically relating to the political economy of energy transitions, discussions about common pool resources, systems analysis, and other neighboring disciplines.
This paper employs John Kingdon's [1984. Agendas, Alternatives and Public Policies. Little Brown, Boston] “multiple streams” framework to analyse the sudden move from overgenerous grandfathering to tight caps and auctioning within the German emissions trading regime in the first half of 2007. By bringing together empirical evidence from interviews and official documents the following question is addressed: how completely does Kingdon's framework explain this political turn? The opening of a “policy window” can be demonstrated and Kingdon's theory concisely captures important aspects of this process. At the same time, however, the findings imply that a number of relevant factors are not sufficiently considered by the theory, most notably the influence of multi-level governance structures, learning processes, and networks. This demonstrates that the multiple streams approach on its own is not sufficient to fully understand the case study example. Hence, for a better understanding of policy change it is suggested that scholars need to evaluate the potential for amending and combining Kingdon's model with other explanatory approaches.
In this innovative account of the way policy issues rise and fall on the national agendaâthe first detailed study of so many issues over an extended periodâFrank R. Baumgartner and Bryan D. Jones show that rapid change not only can but does happen in the hidebound institutions of government. Short-term, single-issue analyses of public policy, the authors contend, give a narrow and distorted view of public policy as the result of a cozy arrangement between politicians, interest groups, and the media. Baumgartner and Jones upset these notions by focusing on several issuesâincluding civilian nuclear power, urban affairs, smoking, and auto safetyâover a much longer period of time to reveal patterns of stability alternating with bursts of rapid, unpredictable change. A welcome corrective to conventional political wisdom, Agendas and Instability revises our understanding of the dynamics of agenda-setting and clarifies a subject at the very center of the study of American politics.
This article examines the development of policy to promote renewable electricity in the province of Ontario (Canada) between 1995 and 2006. Drawing upon both the role of ideas in policy development and a "multiple streams approach," it is argued that changes in the problem, policy, and politics streams-and their coupling by key political entrepreneurs-account for two significant shifts in Ontario's efforts to promote the increased use of renewable electricity. The first shift occurred on July 3, 2003 when the Ontario Commissioner of Alternative Energy, Steve Gilchrist, announced that sole dependence upon free markets to support renewable electricity was being displaced by a new commitment to a renewable portfolio standard. The second shift occurred on March 21, 2006 when the Ontario Premier, Dalton McGuinty, announced that dependence upon a bidding system to promote renewable electricity was being supplemented by a commitment to feed-in tariffs. A focus upon the evolution of ideas, combined with an appreciation for timing, continues to provide the explanation for the development of renewable electricity policy in Ontario. Copyright 2007 by The Policy Studies Organization.
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