Agenda Setting

This chapter discusses how agenda setting works and how issues are framed, examines the major policy actors and their roles in setting the policy agenda, and considers policy theories to explain agenda setting. Proponents of classical liberalism argue that many issues on the policy agenda should be left to the private sector. Proponents of modern liberalism, however, argue that many agenda items promote social justice. The politics stream is a function of the status and philosophy of the agenda setter. Congressional–Executive relations play a role in agenda setting, as well as in other elements of the policymaking process. Large economic groups, such as General Electric, have tremendous resources for gaining access to elected officials and shaping policy agendas. The multiple streams theory states that, desirable or not, the agenda-setting process is reactive. The Advocacy Coalition Framework model argues that policy agendas are not a function of policy windows opening simply due to happenstance.