Kingdon on Defense : An Analysis of the Policy Streams Approach and a Policy Streams Analysis of the Goldwater-Nichols Act

The Goldwater-Nichols Defense Reorganization Act of 1986 (GNA) is landmark public policy. It is significant because of the continuous call for defense reorganization since 1941 and the failure of the government to enact any meaningful change to defense organization since 1958. The GNA is also significant because of the nearly universal opposition it faced at the outset. The strength of the opposition to defense reorganization legislation begs the question of how the GNA arrived on the public agenda and then the Congress decision agenda. Furthermore, why did defense reorganization appear on the agenda in 1986? John Kingdon's policy streams model from Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies is one of the most widely cited agenda setting and alternative specification models and is also one of only a handful of models that attempts to answer why an item rises to the decision agenda when it does. The policy streams model is therefore ripe for application to defense reorganization policy and to answer why the GNA appeared when it did. Before we can answer the why questions, it must be shown that John Kingdon's policy streams model is applicable to the defense policy process. Using Robert Yin's case study methodology, this research conducts an historical case study analysis of the Goldwater-Nichols Act. This study employs original research into government records, as well as analysis of documented first-hand accounts of the activities that led to the passage of the Act. The methodology breaks Kingdon's model and the historical record into component parts and then seeks to relate patterns, similarities, and differences. It is found that, up to a point, Kingdon's model translates well from the policy areas from which it was developed into the defense policy area.Air Force Inst of Tech Wright-Patterson AFB OH is the author of 'Kingdon on Defense : An Analysis of the Policy Streams Approach and a Policy Streams Analysis of the Goldwater-Nichols Act', published 2003 under ISBN 9781423501862 and ISBN 1423501861.