FORSKARUTDANNINGSKURS
Agenda-Setting and Public Policy
Frank R. Baumgartner and Richard E. Matland
28. September - 1. Oktober 1998
v/ Institutt for Administration og Organisasjonsvitenskap
Universitetet i Bergen
Bergen, Norway

    This is a doctoral seminar for Nordic graduate students focusing on agenda setting, and agenda setting's impact on national politics and policymaking. Agenda-setting is the process by which issues rise to prominence in political discussion in society. In a modern society there are an almost limitless number of conditions which could become defined as problematic. For an issue to be actively considered for governmental action it must first be recognized as a problem. It then must move from not only being seen as problematic, but being seen as an issue where public sector action is appropriate, and finally an issue must move to the stage where policy alternatives are being actively considered. The process of moving from existing condition to issue of active governmental concern is the crux of agenda setting. Many factors affect the content of both the public and governmental agenda. Among these are the organization of interest groups concerned with an issue, efforts by those involved to focus attention on the issue, biases and behaviors of the news media in reporting on issues, and how governmental institutions react to attempts to promote new policies. To have an understanding of the policy process, one must understand how governments decide to focus their attention on one set of issues rather than another and how actors in the political arena attempt to influence this process.

    In this course, we review a range of classic and more recent public policy studies on the politics of agenda-setting. Students should finish the course with a good understanding of the concepts and methods used by those active in agenda-setting research. They should be able to conduct original research into the processes and implications of agenda-setting in democratic settings. Requirements for the course include: 1) Having read significant portions of the pensum prior to the class starting 2) actively participating in the seminar discussions, and 3) preparing an article-length term paper (15-25 pages) based on original research on some point of agenda-setting. Class participation will include responsibility for presentation of some material (a single article or a book chapter) and participation in discussions of the readings. We will focus particularly on how scholars go about conducting research on these topics; attention will be split between the theoretical approaches offered and examinations of the evidence provided. In the end, students should have a good understanding of the theories as well as a knowledge of the methods used in agenda setting research. Term papers will allow for the application of these lessons in original research projects.

BOOKS REQUIRED FOR PURCHASE (AVAILABLE AT STUDIA IN BERGEN):

Baumgartner, Frank R., and Bryan D. Jones. 1993. Agendas and Instability in American Politics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Dearing, James W. and Everett M. Rogers. 1996. Communication Concepts 6: Agenda-Setting. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Kingdon, John W. 1995. Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies. 2d. ed. New York: Harper Collins.

Reich, Michael R. 1991. Toxic Politics: Responding to Chemical Disasters. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

Riker, William H. 1986. The Art of Political Manipulation. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Schattschneider, E.E.. The Semi-Sovereign People. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston (reprinted 1975 by Harcourt Brace).

BOOKS RECOMMENDED FOR PURCHASE

Zahariadis, Nikolaos. 1995. Markets, States, and Public Policy: Privatization in Britain and France. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

Topics and reading assignments:

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 28TH

10:30 - 12:00 INTRODUCTION TO COURSE

1:00 - 4:30 CLASSICS OF AGENDA-SETTING

REQUIRED READINGS

Schattschneider, E. E. 1960. The Semi-Sovereign People. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Chapters 1,2,3,4 and 8.

Bachrach, Peter and Morton Baratz. 1962. "The Two Faces of Power." American Political Science Review 56:947-952.

Downs, Anthony. 1972. "Up and Down with Ecology: The Issue Attention Cycle." Public Interest 28:38-50.

RECOMMENDED READINGS

**Schattschneider, E.E. 1960. The Semi-Sovereign People. Rest of the book.

**Cobb, Roger W., and Charles D. Elder. 1983. Participation in American Politics: The Dynamics of Agenda-Building. 2d ed. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. Ch. 1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, Epilogue

**Walker, Jack L., Jr. 1977. "Setting the Agenda in the U.S. Senate: A Theory of Problem Selection." British Journal of Political Science 7: 423­45.

**Rogers, Everett M. James W. Dearing and Dorine Bregman. 1993 "The Anatomy of Agenda-Setting Research." Journal of Communication 43(2):68-84.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29^th

10:00 - 13:00 STRATEGIES OF ISSUE-DEFINITION AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES

REQUIRED READINGS.

Riker, William H. 1986. The Art of Political Manipulation. New Haven: Yale University Press. Chapters 1-4, 7, 9-12, conclusion.

Weiss, Janet A. 1989. "The Powers of Problem Definition: The Case of Government Paperwork." Policy Sciences 22:97-121.

Schneider, Anne, and Helen Ingram. 1993. "Social Construction of Target Populations: Implications for Politics and Policy." American Political Science Review 87: 334­47.

RECOMMENDED READINGS

**Riker, William H. 1986. The Art of Political Manipulation. New Haven: Yale University Press.

** Rochefort and Roger Cobb. 1994. The Politics of Problem Definition: Shaping the Policy Agenda Lawrence, Kansas: University of Kansas Press.

Chapter 1 "Problem Definition: An Emerging Perspective" pp. 1-31

Chapter 4 "Sexual Harrassment"

Chapter 5 "Drug Policymaking"

Chapter 8 "AIDS Policymaking"

** Portz, John. 1996. "Problem Definitions and Policy Agendas: Shaping the Educational Agenda in Boston" Policy Studies Journal 24(3):371-386.

**Lieberman, Robert C. 1995. "Social Construction (continued)" comment on Schneider & Ingram's APSR article, American Political Science Review 89:437-441. Reply by Helen Ingram and Anne Schneider "Response to Lieberman" American Political Science Review 89:441-446.

14:00 - 17:00 GARBAGE CAN MODELS OF AGENDA SETTING

REQUIRED READINGS

Kingdon, John W. 1995. Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies. 2d. ed. New York: Harper Collins.

RECOMMENDED READINGS

**Cohen, Michael, James G. March, and Johan P. Olsen. 1972. "A Garbage Can Theory of Organizational Choice." Administrative Science Quarterly 17: 1­25.

** Diehl, Paul F. and Roger Durant. 1989. "Agendas, Alternatives and Public Policy: Lessons from the U.S. Foreign Policy Arena." Journal of Public Policy 9(2):179-205.

**Scheberle, Denise. 1994. "Radon and Asbestos: A Study of Agenda Setting and Causal Stories." Policy Studies Journal 22(1); 74-86.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30^TH

10:00 - 13:00 THE PUNCTUATED EQUILIBRIUM MODEL AND ITS APPLICATIOIN TO AGENDA SETTING

Simon, Herbert A. 1985. "Human Nature in Politics: The Dialogue of Psychology with Political Science." American Political Science Review 79: 293­304.

Baumgartner, Frank R., and Bryan D. Jones. 1993. Agendas and Instability in American Politics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Jones, Bryan D., Frank R. Baumgartner, and Jeffery C. Talbert. 1993. "The Destruction of Issue Monopolies in Congress." American Political Science Review 87: 657­71.

RECOMMENDED READINGS

**Jones, Bryan D., Frank R. Baumgartner, and James L. True. 1998. "Policy Punctuations: US Budget Authority 1947-1995." Journal of Politics 60:1-33.**Baumgartner, Frank R., Bryan D. Jones, and Michael C. MacLeod. 1998. The Co-Evolution of Issues and Structures in Congress. Manuscript.

14:00 - 17:00 THE MASS MEDIA'S ROLE IN AGENDA SETTING

REQUIRED READING

James W. Dearing and Everett M. Rogers. (1996) Communications Concepts 6: Agenda Setting. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

RECOMMENDED READINGS

**McCombs, Maxwell, and Donald Shaw. 1972. "The Agenda-Setting Function of Mass Media." Public Opinion Quarterly 36: 176­87.

**McCombs, Maxwell. 1997. "Building Consensus: The News Media's Agenda-Setting Roles." Political Communication 14(4):433-443.

**Hilgartner, Steven, and Charles Bosk. 1988. "The Rise and Fall of Social Problems: A Public Arenas Model". American Journal of Sociology 94: 53­78.

*Neuman, W. Russell. 1990. "The Threshold of Public Attention." Public Opinion Quarterly 54: 179­76.

**Zhu, Jian-Hua. 1992. "Issue Competition and Attention Distraction: A Zero-Sum Theory of Agenda-Setting." Journalism Quarterly 69: 825­36.

**Watt, James H., Mary Mazza, and Leslie Snyder. 1993. "Agenda-Setting Effects of Television News Coverage and the Effects Decay Curve." Communication Research 20: 408­35.

**Iyengar, Shanto. 1993. "Agenda Setting and Beyond: Television News and the Strength of Political Issues." In William H. Riker, ed., Agenda Formation. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, pp. 211­29.

**McCombs, Maxwell, and Jian-Hua Zhu. 1995. "Capacity, Diversity, and Volatility of the Public Agenda: Trends from 1954 to 1994." Public Opinion Quarterly 59: 495­525.

**Van Trigt, Anke M., Lolkje T.W. De Jong-Van Den Berg, Linda M. Voogt, Jaap Willems, T(dirk) F.J. Tromp and Flora M. Haaijer-Ruskamp. 1995. "Setting the Agenda: Does The Medical Literature Set The Agenda For Articles About Medicines In The Newspapers? Social Science and Medicine 41(6):893-899.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1st

10:00 - 12:00 COMPARATIVE PUBLIC POLICY AND AGENDA SETTING

REQUIRED READINGS

Cobb, Roger W., Jeannie Keith-Ross, and Marc Howard Ross. 1976. "Agenda Building as a Comparative Political Process." American Political Science Review 70: 126­38.

Matland, Richard E. 1993. "A Policy Process Perspective On The Implementation of Budgetary Reforms in Norway". Paper presented at American Political Science Association Meetings, Washington, D.C., 1993.

Cobb, Roger W. and Marc Howard Ross. 1997. "Agenda Setting and the Denial of Agenda Access: Key Concepts" pp. 3-24 in Roger W. Cobb and Marc Howard Ross (eds.) Cultural Strategies of Agenda Denial Lawrence: University Press of Kansas.

Bendix, John. 1997. "Why Didn't Waldheim's Past Matter More? A Public Agenda Denial in Austria" pp. 183-202 in Roger W. Cobb and Marc Howard Ross (eds.) Cultural Strategies of Agenda Denial Lawrence: University Press of Kansas.


RECOMMENDED READINGS

Howlett, Michael 1997 "Issue-attention and Punctuated Equilibria Models Reconsidered: An Empirical Examination of the Dynamics of Agenda Setting in Canada." Canadian Journal of Political Science 30(1):3-29.

**Baumgartner, Frank R. 1989. Conflict and Rhetoric in French Policymaking. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. Ch. 1, 7, 8, 10

*Shibuya, Eric 1996. "Roaring Mice Against the Tide": The South Pacific Islands and Agenda-Building on Global Warming Pacific Affairs pp. 541-555.

13:00 - 15:00 COMPARATIVE AGENDA SETTING RESEARCH: CROSS NATIONAL STUDIES

REQUIRED READINGS

Reich, Michael R. 1991. Toxic Politics: Responding to Chemical Disasters. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

RECOMMENDED READINGS

**Pollack, Mark A. (1997) "Delegation, Agency, and Agenda Setting in the European Community" International Organization 51(1):99-134.

Zahariadis, Nikolaos. 1995. Markets, States, and Public Policy: Privatization in Britain and France. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.


15:00 - 17:00 AGENDA SETTING FROM A NORDIC PERSPECTIVE

The last session is reserved for students to present their papers on Agenda Setting. There is no REQUIREMENT that students prepare and present papers on this topic, but if there are students who have papers they wish to present and be discussed by the class, they should contact us prior to the start of the course.

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