Windows

If you're paying attention to the train wreck of political and policy news across the world right now – and it's hard to avert your eyes, sometimes – you've likely heard a key metaphor recur and repeat in discussions: windows. Windows are everywhere.

You'll hear about "windows of opportunity ." Other times, you'll hear about the "Overton window" and how it's been stretched, or widened, or dragged further away from where it's been. Even in the name of this site, we talk about "policy windows" (and garbage cans, which are interesting, in their own way).

It's pretty plain to see: pundits, policy analysts, political scientists, and politicians all love windows.

But why?

Everyone loves a good metaphor

It's true. Even if you're not thinking about it out loud, people love a good metaphor. They have a unique way of breaking down complex topics and helping us see things in new ways – which is perhaps why they're pervasive throughout the English language.

But back to the train wreck that is politics and public life right now. The windows metaphor that we keep hearing – what exactly is it helping us understand that's so complex anyways?

Stretching the realm of the possible

One of the greatest ways that the window metaphor helps us think creatively about politics and public policy is the physical nature of a real window. In the real world, a window is both a way to see things – through a wall – but it also constrains your view, framing it in with borders. You cannot see everything through a window – indeed, there's a limited range of what you can see. For our purposes here, ​let's call what you can see through a window the view of the possible that we get through it.

In this way, the window both gives us an opportunity to see what's possible – the view of the possible – but it also constrains us to viewing only what we can see through it, and the frame of that window acts as a barrier to our view outside the view of the possible. It's a filter. You know that stuff exists outside the view of the possible, but it's not what you can see, so it's basically out of mind. The window focuses us on what is within its view. ​

Now, take that idea – the view of the possible through a window – and apply it to politics and public policy. Now we get the Overton window – which is a view of what's possible politically. This view of the possible will show us the bounds of what is possible politically, from the far left to the far right, from the authoritarian to the libertarian. We can intellectually understand that there's more out there, but the Overton window shows us what we can actually conceive of as possible. ​​

The Overton window helps us understand a few dimensions of politics. It can be the frame through which politicians conceive of their understanding of what's possible politically to be done, with some things outside the frame of the possible and other things clearly within it. It can also be the frame of acceptable discourse – containing what is socially and politically acceptable to say. ​​​And just like how windows in different places offer us different views, Overton windows in different places show us different ranges of things that are possible. What I see out my window in Vancouver is different from a friend's window in Toronto is different from windows in Shanghai or Seoul or Tokyo or Caracas or Buenos Aires. ​​

​​Importantly, Overton windows differ from physical windows in one key way – Overton windows are easier to change. You don't need to tear open a wall, you just need to convince people that stretching the window a little, to include a slightly different – or even radically different – view is something worthwhile. It's probably also fair to say that Overton windows are a bit more elastic as well. If they stretch in one direction, sometimes they just get bigger - but other times they snap back into shape, removing the view of what used to be possible as they adjust to a new frame of reference.

If you're stretching your mind to think of an example, here's one: before this year, it'd be pretty far out of the realm of the possible to imagine a President of the United States talking about making Canada the 51st state. Now, we hear it every day.

Emerging opportunities to make change

And that view of the possible through the Overton window – and how quickly it can change – is important to understand the policy window idea. Essentially, the policy window metaphor shares a lot with the Overton window, but a policy window is also a key window of opportunity. How does this all work? Good question.

When we talk about policy windows, we're talking about unique points in time where there is suddenly an opportunity to make policy changes. This is maybe a little bit counter-intuitive: we watch policy changing all the time, but the truth is that the actual opportunities to make policy changes are discrete and they are less frequent than they may appear. Most of the time it's actually pretty hard to make changes to policy: you have to explain why the change needs to happen, what good it will do, how much it will cost, how long it will take – and then you have to convince decision makers to take you seriously, listen to the problems, and agree to actually do something. That can take time – and even then, most of the time, the answer is frequently "we have more important things to be doing right now."

So a good way to think of policy windows is that they open when there is an opportunity for change.

In a frequently-cited work called Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies, John W. Kingdon proposed what he calls the "multiple streams" framework of public policy. In short, Kingdon describes the way that public policy works as three independent 'streams' of issues – problems, solutions, and politics. In a complex world, there are always new problems emerging – this stream is constantly churning, changing, and evolving. At the same time, innovation and ideas change rapidly, and people come up with new solutions all the time – just read the tech blogs and see what we're inventing these days. 3D printing of houses? Sure, maybe. And finally, politics is a never-ending stream of issues and events – things become political that didn't used to be when the Overton window changes (crossover alert!), or when elections happen, or when something happens in the world that creates a reason for policy to respond.

Kingdon argues that policy windows open when these streams coincide. When an issue is both a problem and a political issue, and there's a relevant solution within reach, a policy window opens – a problem attracts political attention, and now there's a reason to do something about it, and there's something that can be done.

I think it's worth reading Kingdon's multiple streams framework in context of the Overton window theory. While Kingdon anchored his theory in his three streams, I think it's entirely possible to think of the change in the Overton window – that is, the view of the possible – can be enough to cause a policy window to open. Something that wasn't even seen as a problem before now is; something that was unthinkable as a solution a year ago now is opportune; an issue that was technical or private or religious is now political, all because the boundaries around what is and what isn't have shifted.

What this means right now

I think the interplay between these different concepts of windows in public policy is critical to understand what is happening the world right now. Whether we like it or not, we're in the realm of tremendous change, tremendous pressure, with tremendous problems, and potentially tremendous solutions.

In some cases, Overton windows are shifting so quickly I think it's fascinating that they haven't been shattered outright. In recent days, we've seen the President of the United States actively – and repeatedly – talk about annexation of Canada. The United States secretary of defence has abandoned America's role as a guarantor of security in Europe. A billionaire is actively exercising executive power. And that's all since January 20, 2025, and it's barely scratching the surface. None of these things were even conceivable two months ago – and now they're just the background noise as the news runs through the headlines at the top of the hour.

There are other massive shifts ongoing: major societal shifts appear to be undoing themselves. Social trends – including authoritarian trends – that were solidly outside the Overton window following the 1930s and 1940s are back. New problems are emerging, and new solutions are coming to the fore. The constant flow of problems, solutions, and politics is opening policy windows left, right, and centre as people react and respond to the constant churn in the international space.

At the same time, there's a surprising amount of things that aren't shifting. We have a pressing crisis in affordability, and in accessible and affordable housing, and the Overton window about what is possible in addressing that situation seems not to move at all. Policy solutions are being proposed that don't challenge the realm of the possible – they don't push edges, they tend to reinforce things that seem unquestionable, such as the financialization of housing, the commodification of homes – the tools that are being considered to address the problems aren't new, they're not emerging, they're the same ones we've seen again and again. We're tinkering around the edges with innovations but core foundational issues – like how housing can be a repository of wealth – seem to be untouchable.

I think there's a case to be made asking why, in such a time of constant change, of shifting Overton windows, of policy windows opening everywhere all at once, why some subsets of public policy don't change, why their Overton windows don't shift, and why the policy windows that open are those narrow ones that you find in airport hotels, that don't open, that you can't fit through, and you wonder if they're even actually there.

Windows, everywhere.

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