Week 3 - Agenda Setting

Question 1

The policy cycle typically begins with which step?

Answer 1

The political agenda

Question 2

What interactions determine the priorities of the nation?

Answer 2

The interaction between political leaders, the media and the public

Question 3

What is the Agenda?

Answer 3

The list of subjects or problems to which government officials, and people outside of governments but closely associated with these official, are paying serious attention at any given time

Question 4

When is a crucial time for politicians to set forth their policy agendas?

Answer 4

Elections - where they can propose policies that they think are most relevant to Canadians
- key to success is to not just focus on the politicians agenda but to also resonate with the public

Question 5

What is agenda setting?

Answer 5

Both participants and processes play a role in which subjects rise on the agenda

Question 6

What are impetuses and constraints in terms of agenda setting?

Answer 6

Impetuses will raise the issue on the agenda

constraint may change the way in which we prioritize the issue

Question 7

What are indicators?

Answer 7

systematic statistic provided by government and non-governmental that provide knowledge of an existing problem
- they are used to assess the magnitude of the condition and to discern changes in a condition

Question 8

What is the key to successful policy implementation?

Answer 8

To be able to attract enough attention to an issue to have people talking about possible solutions

Question 9

What are focusing events?

Answer 9

Crisis or disaster that happens to call attention to a problem
- they are sudden, attention-grabbing situations that change and cause some types of policy change

Question 10

What are the drivers for the policy agenda?

Answer 10

Prominent
sensational
real-world inputs

Question 11

What are the three general agenda?

Answer 11

Policy agenda
media agenda
public agenda

Question 12

What is positive and negative feedback?

Answer 12

Positive - when the public accepts or supports a policy discretion
- the consequences of this feedback is that it becomes increasingly difficult for subsequent governments to adopt alternative policy solutions
Negative Feedback - when the publics disdain for a policy makes it easy for later governments to overturn policy
- always present as other party attempt to put their favoured solution on the agenda

Question 13

Who sets the agenda?

Answer 13

Conducted by policy subsystems, networks, and coalitions

• prime minister
• political parties
• the bureaucracy
• advocacy groups
• public opinion
• social media
• new media
• influential media

Question 14

Prime Minister and agenda setting?

Answer 14

• they have near absolute control over which bills will be prioritized
• establish their policy through the throne speech and the annual budget but also through the daily activities of the prime minister
• items on the prime ministers agenda are those that have the best chance of changing policy

Question 15

Political Parties and agenda setting?

Answer 15

Play a dominant role in setting the agenda

• focus on issues that help them but hurt their opponent
• competition between parties is that they often campaign on different issues, rather than contrasting with each other on the same issue
• parties who find themselves as the opposition still have a role in agenda setting but have a difficult task in getting policy to change in their direction
• opposition parties attempt to change the agenda by asking uncomfortable questions of government

Question 16

Bureaucracy and agenda setting?

Answer 16

the least researched and least known form of political agenda setting

• they do the technical work of public policy and administration
• they have certain powers and influence on policy resources

Question 17

what are six reasons for why the bureaucracy has power and influence on policy resources

Answer 17

• some things can only be done by them due to the law
• they have unmatched access to material resources for pursuing their own organizational objective
• employs people with a wide range of skills and expertise that is unmatched in other sectors
• they have access to information about society
• bureaucrats have permanency, which gives them better institutional and policy knowledge and their political superiors
• work is done in secrecy, which reinforces the insider status and makes it difficult for outsiders to oppose their plans

Question 18

Advocacy groups and agenda setting?

Answer 18

• Considered outsiders of the policy making process
• each group attempts to put its issue on the public agenda as a means of influencing the political agenda
• techniques vary by group in terms of how they think they can best capture media and public attention - Play a vital role in agenda-setting by informing policy makers about issues and challenging them to take action

Question 19

What is public opinion?

Answer 19

Public opinion polls

• measures of public sentiment on specific questions
• can be received through several sources

Question 20

what are the three general theories on the role of public opinion and policy?

Answer 20

• Democratic linkage - a clear link between the desires of the electorate and government
• democratic frustration - the disconnect between public opinion and government policy-making
• counterfeit consensus - public opinion and policy are related but only done through elite manipulation

Question 21

Social media and setting the agenda?

Answer 21

• Has provided a much more direct means by which the public can express its preferences
• The ability for the public to express their support or condemnation through social media is another way that the public agenda can be measured
• Allow politicians to set and frame their messages directly with followers
• There are differences in the various forms of social media

Question 22

The media’s agenda and agenda setting?

Answer 22

• Mass media shape public opinion by drawing attention to certain issues and not others
• Influence is not so much in telling people what to think, but what to think about
• Can provide a narrow world view of the issues of the day but it can distort the political agenda by emphasizing some points of view suppressing others
• Instead of telling the public what to think about, social media tell the media what the public wants to think about
  • Reverse agenda setting

Question 23

What is the political agenda?

Answer 23

Defines what is relevant in public life, how issues are understood, whose views should be taken seriously and what sort of solutions are tenable

Question 24

What is bounded rationality?

Answer 24

The failure to examine all the costs and benefits of a potential decisions and chose the best course of action
- decisions are made by limited information and incomplete policy discussion

Question 25

What is a constraint?

Answer 25

May change the way we prioritize an issue, reducing its importance on the agenda

Question 26

What is issue ownership?

Answer 26

The theory that political parties will focus on issues on which they have a natural advantage

Question 27

What is political capital?

Answer 27

Goodwill toward a newly elected government that allows it to pursue policies of its choice

Question 28

What is punctuated equilibrium?

Answer 28

The idea that policy is usually static but has periodic changes based on emerging issues or focusing events

Question 29

What is riding the wave theory?

Answer 29

Parties that use the public’s agenda to show that they are responsive to the electorate’s preferences