Political agenda

The political agenda can be influenced by multiple institutional and non-institutional actors acting independently or concurrently, including political office-holders, interest groups, social movements, and other entities. Although these actors, most notably the media, often have an effect on the political agenda, these results are not always immediate. Time lags in the political agenda can last from a few weeks to several months. Political and policy elites The political agenda is essentially defined as what governmental officials find important to discuss. Those closest to the policy process have the biggest control on what issues reach the political agenda. They are the ones with the most power to decide which ideas or issues have the most importance, and which ideas or issues are unimportant. Political elites also have considerable ability to determine how issues on the political agenda are debated, in terms of order, framing, and substance. For example, the President of the United States, has the power to make treaties, appoint ambassadors, appoint justices of the Supreme Court, and shape public and institutional debate around these actions. These types of powers ultimately shape what issues reach the political agenda and how they are discussed thereafter. Many other important activist groups, like those oriented towards human rights and social justice, campaign for broad ideals. These groups work to put continuous pressure on government leaders that shape the agenda. If enough pressure is exerted onto political leaders through activist groups, it can change which issues and ideas ultimately reach the political agenda. For example, the American Bar Association (ABA) and the American Medical Association (AMA), usually try to influence politicians on professional jobs. Examples of think tanks that promote a certain political perspective onto the political agenda are the Heritage Foundation and American Enterprise Institute which are highly conservative. On the other side, the Center for American Progress, are more liberal with their motives. The Mabo decision by the High Court in 1992 which overturned previous laws about establishing native titles is an example of this. Hajo B Boomgaarden and Rens Vliegenthart write on the media's relation to political agenda in their article Explaining the rise of anti-immigrant parties: The role of news media content. In this article they study the media coverage on anti-immigration in the Netherlands for the period of 1990 to 2002 and found that it directly relates to the success of anti-immigration populist parties such as Centrumdemocraten (CD), the Centrum Partij (CP), and the Lijst Pim Fortuyn (LPF) during the same time period. Their analysis used the importance of news media as the explanatory factor of why anti-immigration gained prevalence on the political agenda, while controlling for other real world factors and developments at the time such as the influence of the economy, immigration, or the leadership of then President Pim Fortuyn. This was done by conducting a content analysis of five of the most popular Dutch national newspapers. The empirical results showed support of anti-immigration was around 4% in 1994, and rose to 16% in 2001 during the same time that media coverage of anti-immigration was at its peak. This means, the test showed that media content can be held at least partly responsible for the rise of anti-immigrant parties in the Netherlands and the changing of the political agenda in this way. The end conclusion was that most of the time presidents react corresponding to fluctuations in media attention on an issue. It too showed a relationship between the media and political agenda. World events When something unexpected happens it can force the political agenda to change immediately. For example, when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, the United States responded by sending emergency disaster aid to the affected areas and several organizations set up donation funds. After the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks, national security and anti-terrorism efforts became a top priority for the government. Big world events can change the priority of certain issues for the public. When big world events (i.e. disasters/tragedies) occur they are often followed by a policy response as well, and so what issues and ideas reach the political agenda are sometimes changed simply due to what happened in the world. == Varying theories on who sets the political agenda ==

There are three main theories on how political agendas are set and which groups have the greatest say in the decisions regarding them. They are; the pluralist theory, the elitist theory, and the institutional theory. The pluralist theory The pluralist theory suggests that policy-making is divided into several categories or “arenas”. Groups that do not have any power in one particular arena, most often have power in another arena. The pluralist theory is based on the democratic system. In a representative democracy, citizens vote for the representatives who will make policy decisions on their behalf. There are also special votes where citizens are able to directly weigh in on issues through a referendum. There is a marketplace for competing policies, and interests, and any group may win the arena. Elections often determine who gets to decide on each public policy. The elitist theory In the elitist theory a main power elite dominates the entire agenda setting process to serve their own interests. These interests hold the power in all the arenas and they always win every election. There are very few people that actually organize into separate interest groups. In order to retain power and control, the main elite works at keeping key issues off the agenda. This suppression of issues threatens democracy. The institutional theory This theory believes that legislative committees and bureaucratic institutions are the main controllers of the agenda. Because social interests and issues have much impact on what is considered by the legislative committees and bureaucratic institutions, individuals do not benefit from agenda decisions. This type of system leads to more conservative policy decisions than those under the pluralist scenario, but far more conservative than under the elite scenario. == Political agenda and state centralization ==

The political agenda is tied to state centralization because the more centralized a state is, the more political elites have control over the political agenda. However, if a state is too centralized, the more the public may feel they need to advocate to change the political agenda as well. The political agenda can be further broken down into two concepts: the political agenda effect, and the escalation effect. The political agenda effect The “political agenda effect” asserts that state centralization alters the dynamics of political action and conflict in society. State centralization, which involves elites coordinating nationally, induces citizens to organize nationally as well, rather than at the local or the “parochial” level. When this happens and citizens from different regions, sectors, interests, backgrounds, or ethnicity all join to organize and discuss certain policies their agenda will change in a direction that switches their demands from power-holders to focus more on public goods. In this case then a state that has a higher level of centralization it may incite citizens to try to change the agenda themselves. Therefore, political elites might instead prefer a non-centralized state where they can still maintain more control over the political agenda. Elites may strategically opt for a non-centralized state in order to induce the citizens to not organize nationally and thus avert the political agenda effect. The escalation effect The “escalation effect” contends that if citizens get together, it will force elites to form national resources to fight against them and maintain the political agenda the way they desire. In the case that citizens band together in a national organization, this will entice political elites to also form a national organization and pool their resources together in attempt to fight against the citizens. National organizations created by citizens might have a lower probability of success in comparison to organizations formed by elites, but in either case they will still indirectly benefit the weaker citizen groups, who would have otherwise remained unorganized. An escalation of the conflict can be seen as ensuing in this scenario. == The impact agenda ==

The impact agenda is the increasing requirements for researchers to prove that there are real world impacts from their research. Specifically, it describes how there are increasing requirements set out by the state for researchers to relate their studies to real world issues in order to validate their research and access government funding. The beginnings of the concept of the “impact agenda” can be traced to William Waldegrave's 1993 white paper “Realizing Our Potential”. The relevance of the impact agenda is shown by the fact that the Biological and Sciences Research Council announced in 2012 that it expects its institutes to detail impact. This idea has been heavily criticized by scientists for allowing non-scientists to pick winners and losers and for constraining researchers to only create an impact that is aligned with the government's political agenda. == Models of political agenda building ==

Roger Cobb, Jennie Keith Ross and Marc Howard Ross developed the “models of agenda building” theory to specify three different models: the outside initiative model, mobilization model, and inside initiative model. These models are designed to show the different ways the political agenda changes. The study related success of an idea being translated from the "public agenda" (being discussed regularly) to the “formal agenda” (government taking serious considerations into making changes in that specific area). Success in this study meant an issue was placed on the formal agenda and given attention by decision makers. Results showed that achieving agenda status is more difficult in modern nations than in smaller nations rooted in face-to-face interaction. More specifically: • The more homogeneous a society is, the higher the ability to achieve agenda status • A higher internal migration rate and population increase, means achieving agenda status will be more difficult • The higher amount of potential agendas in which a specific issue may be placed, the higher the success rate of reaching the political agenda • The fewer issues around redistribution of material resources in a given society, the greater the chance of reaching the political agenda The study also found that there are components of political agendas that hold true across nations and across different models: • The greater the proportion of issues not reaching the formal agenda, the higher the level of discontent and political instability within the wider community • As the time gap between an issue being raised and it reaching formal agenda status increases, so does public instability Outside initiative model The outside initiative model discusses the process where issues arise in non-governmental organizations and then are expanded to reach the formal agenda. The order of events starts with a grievance, an expansion of interest supported by nongovernmental groups, and then an exertion of pressure onto decision makers. It is about the process through which issues arise in non-governmental groups and are then expanded sufficiently to reach, first the public agenda and then the formal agenda. The outside initiative model is most prevalent in egalitarian societies. The mobilization model The mobilization model is focused around political agenda issues that are initiated within government and subsequently reach the public agenda and formal agenda status. Its focus is on the internal mechanism and how politicians work to get ideas formalized onto the agenda. However, success in implementation does require support from the public under this model as well. The mobilization model is most commonly linked with hierarchical societies, or those societies which emphasize a wide gap between the leader and his or her followers. Inside initiative model The inside initiative model describes when issues are initiated within government, but supporters make no effort to expand it to the public. It is a model that is opposed to public participation. Instead, supporters of the issues rely solely on their own ability to apply the right amount of pressure to ensure formal agenda status. The inside access model is most often seen in societies with high concentrations of wealth and status. == See also ==