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The multiple streams theory of national policymaking has been influential in the study of public administration and public policy-if not without a fair bit of controversy. While some laud the model for its openness to the important role of policy entrepreneurs and the irrationalities of the decisionmaking processes, others criticize the model for its lack of readily testable propositions. This article identifies a series of testable propositions in the multiple streams model (particularly that discussed by Kingdon). We assess whether participation in local policymaking (focusing on school district policymaking related to violence prevention) is characterized by "separate streams" of participants or is dominated by organized participants like interest groups or policy specialists. We found evidence of unity (rather than separation) in the policymaking process and scant evidence of elite, organized interests dominating the policymaking process. The results call into question a key assumption of the multiple streams model. and 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ. based on the confluence of a series of "streams" of organizational inputs. The result was the garbage can model (GCM) of organizational decision making. Kingdon (1995) applied this model of organizational decision making to the policymaking processes that pluralist and elitist theorists fought to explain. Kingdon argued that policy processes are neither elite nor pluralist in their entirety. Instead, pluralist forces and elite forces compete for control of separate "streams" of policymaking activity. The elite and pluralist models, in Kingdon's view, were both correct, but each only described parts of the policy process. The problem stream included avenues for broad participation, though still far from the mass politics envisioned by some pluralists, while the solution stream was populated almost entirely by elite policy specialists.Kingdon's account of the policy process has become a popular one in the study of policy dynamics 1 but has been subject to considerable criticism. The GCM, used by Kingdon as the backbone of his theory of policymaking, is predicated on the randomness of organizational decision making. The underlying theory makes very few falsifiable predictions about organizational behavior-instead relying on instability and seeming randomness of the policymaking process as the key expectation. Kingdon's (1995) version of the GCM of policymaking does make falsifiable predictions about the policy process in its inclusion of components of the pluralist and elite theories of policy. In this article, we assess some of those assumptions-the hypothesis that participation in policymaking processes (particularly in administrative settings) consists of two separate streams of participants bearing "problems" and "solutions," respectively, as well as hypotheses about the role of policy specialists in the policymaking process. By analyzing data about violence prevention policymaking in educational organizations, we assess the "separateness" and "specialis...

The theory of representative bureaucracy concerns whether bureaucracy mirrors the origins and values of the population and, if so, whether such representation makes any difference. This article extends Hindera's examination of active bureaucratic representation within the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to determine the effect of introducing new goals (disability discrimination) and priorities (sexual harassment) on the EEOC's representational patterns. Using data from the late 1980s and late 1990s, we find the extent of active representation of African Americans declined. Although the EEOC is now pursuing more cases of sex discrimination, no evidence of active representation exists for women in EEOC district offices.

The scope and scale of a community's service assistance demands during a disaster will exceed, typically, the capacity of any single set of governmental, private, or nonprofit sector organizations. As a result inter‐sector coordination and collaboration represents a key element in effective disaster management. Nonprofit organizations play a critical role in providing a wide range of early response assistance and mass care services when disasters occur. Here, we investigate the particular ways in which nonprofit organizations engaged in inter‐sector coordination and collaboration during a major disaster, Superstorm Sandy. We do so in order to build on the somewhat limited prior empirical literature accounting for the specific nature of nonprofits' disaster service provision efforts. Our analysis offers several contributions to existing literature: it demonstrates the scope of disaster‐related services provided, it outlines the key qualities of inter‐sector coordination and collaboration actions, and it identifies the way in which the nonprofit sector's early phase relief actions might be connected later to longer term disaster recovery efforts.

Introduction: The healthcare industry has begun seeing a new hazard develop against them-the threat of cyberattack. Beginning in 2016, healthcare organizations in the United States have been targeted for malware attacks, a specific type of cyberattack. During malware incidents hackers can lock users out of their own network to gain access to information or to hold the organization for ransom. With the increase in medical technology and the need for access to this information to provide critical care, this type of incident has the potential to put patient lives and safety at risk. Methods: A content analysis was conducted to assess the trend of attacks on healthcare organizations. U.S. Healthcare IT News and Becker's Hospital Review were used to collect all publicly reported malware attacks against U.S. healthcare organizations between 2016 and 2017. A logic diagram was also developed to illustrate how hackers gain access to a healthcare network using malware. Results: There were 49 cases of malware attacks against U.S. HCOs identified. The attacks occurred across 27 states, and they took place during 18 out of 24 months. Six of the organizations reported paying ransom, whereas 43 organizations did not pay or did not report payment to the press. Impacts of these attacks range from network downtime to patient and staff records being breached. Discussion: Malware attacks have the potential to impact care delivery as well as the healthcare facility itself. Even though this study identified 49 malware attacks, we know this number is significantly higher based on data from HIMSS and the FBI. A reporting loophole exists in that hospitals are only required to report attacks in the case of breached protected health or financial data. For HCOs to fully understand the risk cyberthreats pose, it is important for attacks to become public information and for lessons learned to be shared. Future research reviewing identified attacks could help identify best practices for the healthcare industry to better prepare for cyberattacks.