The Overton Window- An Introduction

A political scientist named Joe Overton illustrated a way of understanding how the political winds change.

The Overton Window

You've probably had this experience at some point: You've read about a great new idea for reforming government policy and thought, "This makes so much sense; why don't lawmakers just do it?" But months pass, and you don't hear politicians even discuss the idea, let alone act on it.

There's a reason: Ideas take time to produce changes in policy. This can be frustrating, but it also means that ideas policymakers refuse to countenance now may yet — with patience — become law.

Overton tells that there exists a "window" of social acceptance into which change can occur without such change causing a public backlash against the politicians who moved the window.

When social and political forces bring about change, the window of political possibility shifts up or down the spectrum and can also expand to include more policy options or shrink to include fewer. The window presents a menu of policy choices to politicians: From their point of view, relatively safe choices are inside the window and politically riskier choices (or bolder ones, if you prefer) are outside.