The course will focus on the process of defining the content of the agendas – “agenda setting”
- and its effects. The power that stems from the ability to set the agenda is tremendous as the
agenda setter model exemplifies it by showing how variations in decision making rules may
affect policy outcomes. By allowing gate-keeping power to one agent for example, decision
making rules may particularly affect attention (and the lack of) to issues. Attention is at the
basis of agenda setting. In fact, more generally, beyond institutional rules, when no attention
is drawn on a specific social condition (AIDS, drought in a specific country, poverty,
excision, immigration, Islam, etc.) a (policy) change or action is unlikely. So some agents
may have incentives to push that specific social condition on the agenda to raise it as an issue
and conversely, some may want to block the agenda access. The way an issue is raised i.e
how the issue is defined, may increase or decrease attention and provide or not a compelling
argument. Moreover, where an issue is raised may determine its fate. Some institutional
venues are more sensitive to some issues or some issue definitions than others. So policy
entrepreneurs have incentives to venue-shopping. Nevertheless, attention is limited. So all
issues cannot be at the same time on the agendas. Thus, a specific pattern of agendas
evolution will be followed that as been described as punctuated equilibrium. The course will
explore in details the different analytical components of agenda setting (salience, priming,
framing, tone…). Several types of agendas will be analyzed as well as their interaction :
media agendas, public (opinion) agenda, policy agendas. The role and impact of the
strategies, opportunities and resources of several types of actors (media, politicians, interest
groups and social movement, etc.) will be discussed in the process of setting the agendas.
Finally how issues have risen and fallen on the political agendas over time will also be
analyzed in details using various examples (AIDS, tobacco, nuclear power, inflation…) from
different countries (USA, Canada, France, etc.).
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Events
