Agenda Setting

PA 306FarleyFall 2005

What is an agenda?

“Collection of problems, understanding of causes, symbols, solutions, and other elements of public problems to come to the attention of members of the public and their governmental officials”

Can be as concrete as bills, but also includes beliefs about what is a problem, how serious a problem is, who should address problem and how.

Agenda Setting

“Why do some problems come to occupy the attention of governmental officials more than other problems?” Kingdon p.105

“Agenda setting is the process by which problems and alternative solutions gain or lose public and elite attention.” Birkland P.106

What is off the agenda can be as important as what is on.

Social Construction of Reality

“The process of defining problems and of selling a broad population on this definition is called social construction. Social construction refers to the ways in which we as a society and the various contending interests within it structure and tell the stories about how problems come to be the way they are.” Birkland P.122

Very important in determining what is on or off the agenda.

Levels of Agenda

Agenda Universe Systemic agenda

Flexible boundaries What is impact of disasters, e.g. Katrina?

Institutional agenda List of items explicitly up for serious consideration

Decision agenda In the federal register

Agenda Setting as Conflict

“The group that successfully describes a problem will also be the one that defines the solution to it, thereby prevailing in policy debate. At the same time, groups fight to keep issues off the agenda.” Birkland P.106

Schattschneider: “All forms of political organization have a bias in favor of the exploitation of some kinds of conflict and the suppression of others because organization is the mobilization of bias. Some issues are organized into politics while others are organized out.” Birkland P.111

‘Coercive power’ , ‘blocking power’, quiescence

Agenda Setting as Collaboration

“Consensus is built in the political stream by bargaining more than by persuasion.” Kingdon P.107

How do problems get on the higher agendas? Indicators (numbers):

Magnitude and changeDeciding to count something is itself a

policy decision

Focusing events: “A disaster, crisis, personal experience, or powerful symbol—draws attention to some conditions more than to others. But such an event has only transient effects unless accompanied by a firmer indication of a problem, by a preexisting perception, or by a combination with other similar

events.Katrina

Past catastrophes What problem(s) does Katrina bring into

focus?

Feedback “Officials learn about conditions through feedback about the operation of existing programs, either formal (e.g. routine monitoring of costs or program evaluation studies) or informal (e.g. streams of complaints flowing into congressional offices).” Kingdon P.106

Shifting from “Conditions” to “Problems”… “Conditions come to be defined as

problems, and have a better chance of rising on the agenda, when we come to believe that we should do something to change them.” Kingdon P.106

A problem is only a problem if a more desirable outcome exists

Conditions are defined as problems in several ways: Conditions that violate important values Conditions that are compared to other

countries or units How we define a condition determines

what the problem is.E.g. Katrina

Couplings

Three streams: Problem:

Policy: Often developed by invisible actors

Politics:

Partial Couplings:

Solutions to problems, but without a receptive political climate

Politics to proposals, but without a sense that a compelling problem is being solved

Politics and problems both calling for action, but without an available

alternative to advocate. Kingdon P.110

Policy Windows:

Some are predictable—upcoming legislative session for instance…

Some are not predictable—the case of a focusing events for example …

Kingdon p.111

Policy window: case study of 9/11

Project for the New American Century Problem: Threats to American Supremacy Policies

REBUILDING AMERICA’S DEFENSES: Strategy, Forces and Resources for a New Century– Sept., 2000

Depose Hussein, control over resources, etc. Process will be long and slow “absent some catastrophic and

catalyzing event – like a new Pearl Harbor.”

Politics: Election of Bush Focusing event: 9/11

Some Actors:

Visible actors Special Interests Invisible actors

“Interest groups are often able to block consideration of proposals they do not prefer, or adapt to an item already high on a governmental agenda by adding elements a bit more to their liking. They less often initiate considerations or set agendas on their own. And when organized interests come into conflict with the combination of national mood and elected politicians, the latter combination is likely to prevail, at least as far as setting an agenda is concerned.” Kingdon P.107

What about think tanks? National media? Local media, e.g. Free Press and Wind Power

A Key Actor: Policy Entrepreneurs

Motivated by combinations of: Straightforward concern about certain problems Pursuit of self serving benefits as protecting or

expanding their bureaucracy’s budget or claiming credit for accomplishment

Promotion of policy values Simple pleasure of participating Kingdon p.112

Ideology and the “National Mood”

What’s an ideology? Aside: ideology vs. science

“The terms of the debate can be grounded wholly in how the world ought to be, not in how it is.” Murray

What factors shift ideology? Material forces? e.g. Tax burden, profitability, compensation Crime?

Crime trends and crime reporting Media bias?

What factors dictate the “national mood?”

Politics and Ideologies

In small groups discuss: How do you talk about politics? When do you feel comfortable talking

about politics? How can we construct a space in this

class to talk about our political views?

Political Partisanship

What are the assumptions of “liberals” or “the left?”

What are the assumptions of “conservatives” or “the right?”

Whose assumptions are we more familiar with?

Why?