Agenda Setting and Public Policy

Course Code: PUBLG039

Course Tutor: Professor Peter John (Department of Political Science)

Assessment: One 3,000 word essay

Credit Value: 15 credits

About this course

Agenda Setting and Public Policy seeks to describe and explain why governments and other decision-makers pay attention to one policy and not another, and why attention to these issues changes over time. It will seek to set out the concept of the policy agenda, and then use different theories to explain the character of the policy agenda in modern times using examples from Europe and the United States. Topics to be covered are: agenda setting, power, the media, public opinion, punctuated equilibrium, and agenda setting in Europe and the US.

By the end of the course, students will be able to: understand the nature of the policy agenda, comprehend the main theories of agenda-setting, and have knowledge of at least one decision-making arena within which agenda-setting takes place.