Who was Overton? What is his window? Why and how does it move?

I came across the concept of the ‘Overton Window’ when I was in the early stages of my PhD. At the time, it didn’t seem to have much ‘traction’ in the academic circles I was, well, circling and no-one else seemed at all interested. Yet in the last few months I have heard the term many times, mostly on political podcasts like Oh God, What Now and The Bunker (I’m looking at you, Podmasters).

The Overton Window fascinates me for a few reasons. It’s a fantastic example of the value of a catchphrase within a sector which generally seems rather too proud (or too embarrassed?) to think up fun names for concepts or models. *

The catchphrase works because it folds a lot of meaning into very few words and is easy to remember. But because of that, the phrase has obviously passed into lay parlance and could easily become distanced from its original meaning. That is, people may be using the phrase without fully understanding what they are referring to. The refreshing and erudite pundits on my favourite podcasts are, I’m certain, fully aware of what they’re saying – but maybe others aren’t.

So, for those of us who might be hearing this phrase for the first time, I dug deep into the folder of PDFs labelled ‘Caroline’s Library’. You’re welcome.

Who was Overton?

Joe Overton was the Vice President of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy until his sudden and early death in 2003. The Mackinac Center, based in Michigan, is the largest U.S. state-based free market think tank in the United States, conducting policy research and educational programs. The current President of the think tank, Joseph Lehman, explains that Joe shared his observations and the abstract concept of the ‘window of political possibility’ in the mid-1990s, and that the catchphrase ‘The Overton Window’ was created by Lehman who wanted to present and promote his late colleague’s idea. To say it caught on is an understatement.

What is the window and why might it move?

As mentioned above, the ‘Overton Window’ is shorthand for the “Overton Window of Political Possibilities.” At any one time, a certain range of policies or actions are considered reasonable, acceptable, and achievable. What determines their acceptability is the political, social, economic, and cultural climate into which those policies would be enacted. Those policies which are within the scope of achievability and acceptance are within the ‘Overton Window’ – the policies which are presently considered unacceptable or unachievable fall outside the window, on a spectrum. The ends of the spectrum are the extremes: hard-right and hard-left. Competing political parties each hope to enact policies which are ore towards one end than the other: this can be thought as them wanting to move the window of possibilities more over to the left or right. To do that, a range of methods are used to apply pressure on which ever end of the spectrum will result in the window moving. I find the idea of a spirit level bubble a useful mans of visualising this.

And that is the Overton Window. It’s a simple explanatory model to help us comprehend the present range of possible actions, and where we might want to apply pressure in order to move, expand or contract the window of possibilities. I know there’s some real economic theory behind it, but that actually doesn’t matter all that much if you want to understand what a commentator or lobbyist says when they refer to “moving the Overton Window.”

How to move the window

As an explanation for changes in political climate, the Overton Window appears benign – and it is, really. But the typical means of moving the window involves what is euphemistically referred to as ‘strategic communications.’ A cynic might call this ‘information warfare.’ Think about the influence of ‘alternative facts’ and Make America Great Again. When Trump first announced his candidacy for the American Presidency many thought it would never happen. But his campaign applied pressure in just the right places to shift the tone of the debate and haul the Overton Window over to the hard-right. The same has happened all over Europe: we now have the likes of Marine le Pen, Victor Orban, and our own dear Suella Braverman spouting nonsense and pushing the window of political possibilities further and further towards what is essentially fascism.

Apologies for the bleak sign-off: to raise your mood, I highly recommend listening to Oh God, What Now or reading about Very Large Telescopes.