Agenda setting: Policy change and policy dynamics A brief introduction

Abstract This Thematic Special Issue on Policy Change and Policy Dynamics has as its main objective to present and discuss agenda setting, one of the most important issues for the study of public policies and the policy process. The agenda setting approach proposes an analytical approach on pre-decision processes to understand broader developments in public policy. To achieve that, it places the attention at the center of political action and relies on the fact that it is the change in attention that would cause, consequently, change in public policy. One of the most relevant aspects on the studies of policy agendas and policy change considers the diffusion occurred in the years 2000 with the application of its theoretical and methodological approaches to different societies and political systems beyond the United States. Consequently, another important achievement in the studies of agenda setting and policy change must be highlighted: studies of public policies in comparative perspective. Although agenda-setting studies have grown significantly in the international academic community, there are still some important points to be better explored. The intent of this Themed Special Issue of RAP is to contribute with the growing agenda-setting studies by highlighting the processes of policy changes and policy dynamics.

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Comparative Studies of Policy Dynamics

Comparative Political Studies ◽

10.1177/0010414011405160 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 44 (8) ◽

pp. 947-972 ◽

Cited By ~ 74

Author(s):

Frank R. Baumgartner ◽

Bryan D. Jones ◽

John Wilkerson

Keyword(s):

Public Policy ◽

Policy Change ◽

Classification System ◽

Comparative Studies ◽

Special Issue ◽

Comparative Analyses ◽

Time Period ◽

Policy Dynamics ◽

Over Time ◽

New Infrastructure

Major new understandings of policy change are emerging from a program to measure attention to policies across nations using the same instrument. Participants in this special issue have created new indicators of government activities in 11 countries over several decades. Each database is comprehensive in that it includes information about every activity of its type (e.g., laws, bills, parliamentary questions, prime ministerial speeches) for the time period covered, typically several decades. These databases are linked by a common policy topic classification system, which allows new types of analyses of public policy dynamics over time. The authors introduce the theoretical and practical questions addressed in the volume, explain the nature of the work completed, and suggest some of the ways that this new infrastructure may allow new types of comparative analyses of public policy, institutions, and outcomes. In particular, the authors challenge political scientists to incorporate policy variability into their analyses and to move far beyond the search for partisan and electoral explanations of policy change.

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The Third Time Is a Charm: News Media, Policy Dynamics, and the Designer Anabolic Steroid Control Act

International Journal of Sport Communication ◽

10.1123/ijsc.2017-0017 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 141-152

Author(s):

Bryan E. Denham

Keyword(s):

Anabolic Steroid ◽

News Media ◽

Anabolic Steroids ◽

The United States ◽

Controlled Substances ◽

Chemical Structures ◽

Influence Model ◽

Regulatory Processes ◽

Policy Dynamics ◽

Policy Agendas

Designer steroids contain chemical structures “derived from, or substantially similar to” anabolic steroids, which became Schedule III controlled substances in the United States in 1990. Chemists create designer steroids by reverse engineering existing drugs, altering their chemical structures, and creating new compounds. Seeking to help curtail problems with steroid-spiked dietary supplements, the Designer Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 2014 classified 25 designer steroids, many contained in supplements, as controlled substances. Previous versions of the 2014 legislation, introduced in 2010 and 2012, had failed to become law despite consistent news accounts of supplements contaminated with conventional and designer steroids, as well as steroid precursors. Guided conceptually by a streams-of-influence model, the present article examines regulatory processes involving designer steroids and discusses limitations on the capacity of news outlets to build policy agendas.

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Predicting Policy Change in the House: A Longitudinal Analysis

British Journal of Political Science ◽

10.1017/s0007123400003008 ◽

1982 ◽

Vol 12 (3) ◽

pp. 375-384

Author(s):

Patricia A. Hurley

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Public Policy ◽

Policy Change ◽

Longitudinal Analysis ◽

The United States ◽

Interactive Effects ◽

Policy Changes ◽

Number Of Factors

If one were asked to describe the process of policy change in the United States in one word, that word would surely be ‘incremental’. Students of the Congressional process can point to a number of factors which account for delay in changes of policy; it is only recently that they have begun to examine the occasional departures from Congressional intractability in matter of public policy. This paper seeks to further our understanding of how internal legislative conditions can produce or inhibit policy change. While the first scholars to call attention to this phenomenon noted that policy changes followed critical realignments, others have made a more general case for the ability of Congress to pass important legislation, arguing that Congressional potential for policy change depends largely upon the interactive effects of both majority and minority size and unity. Policy changes have been enacted by those Congresses with large and/or cohesive majorities and small and/or disorganized minorities. These conditions often follow realigning elections, but occur at other times as well.

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Anthropology and Public Policy in Alaska

Practicing Anthropology ◽

10.17730/praa.5.1.d644p013331641q7 ◽

1982 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 4-5

Author(s):

Kerry Feldman ◽

Steve Langdon

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Public Policy ◽

Broad Spectrum ◽

Ethnic Diversity ◽

The United States ◽

Small Population ◽

Special Issue ◽

The People ◽

The Future ◽

High Level

This special issue of Practicing Anthropology includes seven papers which cover a broad spectrum of anthropological practice in Alaska, but share a common orientation toward public policy. We have chosen to focus on anthropology and public policy in Alaska for several reasons. First, there appears to be a high level of anthropological involvement in and impact on Alaskan public policy compared to other regions of the United States. Second, that involvement and influence is not limited to one or two topics but ranges over a variety of issues. Finally, we feel that because of the nature of contemporary Alaska—its size, small population, ethnic diversity, present economy, and youth as a state—public directions taken at this time will be crucial to the future of the people who are presently residents of Alaska. A sense of that urgency as well as of the powerful forces at work comes through in a number of the articles.

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Poverty, Children, and Public Policies

Journal of Family Issues ◽

10.1177/019251391012004001 ◽

1991 ◽

Vol 12 (4) ◽

pp. 388-403 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

ROBERT F. KELLY ◽

SARAH H. RAMSEY

Keyword(s):

Public Policy ◽

Policy Process ◽

Research Agenda ◽

Public Policies ◽

Central Theme ◽

Special Issue ◽

Large Numbers ◽

Poor Families ◽

Families With Children

The articles in the special issue on Families, Poverty, and Public Policies focus on poor families with children and develop a central theme: that current policies are not sufficiently responsive to the emerging reality of large numbers of children living in poverty. This article first provides a context for considering the results reported in these articles by noting recent public policy, demographic, and socioeconomic trends that will influence these families in the future. Second, the articles are briefly reviewed and compared with an emphasis on demonstrating the need for diversity in programs to respond to the diverse needs of these families. Third, a research agenda related to the articles is discussed. The conclusion of the article addresses the role of research in the policy process.

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Measuring scientific fundamentals of public policies related to health through text mining (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.11719 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Caroline Pauletto Spanhol-Finocchio ◽

Mariana De Freitas Dewes ◽

Giana De Vargas Mores ◽

Homero Dewes

Keyword(s):

Public Policy ◽

Text Mining ◽

Time Window ◽

Public Policies ◽

The United States ◽

Scientific Basis ◽

Early Care ◽

Physical Sciences ◽

The Public ◽

Health Related

BACKGROUND Obesity has become a health problem worldwide, determined by multiple and complex factors, and face to this challenge, governments have played central role in combating its rise. Considering this fact, public policies are introduced or enacted for the benefit of whole populations, taking into account the prospective of multiverse social stakeholders based on solid scientific fundamentals. In an eventual evaluation of a proposed or enforced public policy it can be relevant to explicit the scientific roots of its directives. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to examine obesity-related policies in all US states and District of Columbia, in order to understand their scientific basis. METHODS We analyzed the public policies, as implemented in the United States, in the time window when this health-related trend was a major governmental concern. In total, 1,592 policies related to obesity were selected and analyzed through text mining technique. RESULTS The multidisciplinary area was predominant in the documents analyzed (33.5%), followed by Health Sciences (28.5%), Social Sciences (20.7%), Life Sciences (15.1%) and Physical Sciences (2.2%). Besides, throughout the country most policies were community oriented and many of them were related to school and family environments, early care and education, hospitals and workplaces. CONCLUSIONS The content of public policies analyzed have elements of science with predominance of multidisciplinary area. This results provide evidence of how science and public policy are interrelated. In the same time, it can drive government decisions related to investments on science.

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Introduction: Becomingswith Hybrid Bodies—Immigration, Public Policy, and the In-Between

Culture Studies &#x2194 Critical Methodologies ◽

10.1177/1532708618817903 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 19 (3) ◽

pp. 147-151

Author(s):

Gaile S. Cannella ◽

Mary Esther Soto Huerta

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Public Policy ◽

Cultural Studies ◽

The United States ◽

Special Issue ◽

Liminal Spaces ◽

New Locations

This article is the introduction to the special issue of Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies that focuses on the lives, feelings, and circumstances experienced by the largest group of people around the globe who must deal with unthought and unexpected liminal spaces, knowledges, values, and impositions. Identified as immigrants, and sometimes migrants, these individuals and groups move, or are moved without choice, to new locations for a variety of reasons. This introduction first briefly describes the liminal, hybrid positions lived and experienced by immigrants. The issue articles are then introduced as they predominantly focus on immigrant public policy and daily liminalities of immigrant life in the United States.

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Public Opinion and Morality Policy: Lessons from Canada and the United States

Comparative Sociology ◽

10.1163/15691330-12341489 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 18 (1) ◽

pp. 1-32 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Mildred A. Schwartz ◽

Raymond Tatalovich

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Public Policy ◽

Public Opinion ◽

Political Action ◽

The United States ◽

Moral Values ◽

Morality Policy ◽

The Public

Abstract To clarify why research examining the responsiveness of governments to public opinion produces mixed results, the authors focus on issues involving contested moral values that are known to be highly salient to the public and hence more likely to be linked to public policy. Canada and the United States, where the same issues have emerged, allow them to isolate the factors resulting in majoritarian congruence, where policies follow public opinion. The authors attribute finding even less congruence than previous research to the dominance of the courts in ruling on morality issues, although they also find a greater role for the legislature in Canada. The authors raise the possibility that the very salience of the issues inhibited political action from conflict-avoidant politicians.

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