Fall2010 Agendasetting,issuedefinitionandpublicpolicy Monday,9:4511h15;AmphiEllul SylvainBrouard s.brouard@sciencespobordeaux.

fr 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.). EssentialReadings: Baumgartner, F. R. and B. D. Jones (2009). Agendas and instability in American politics. Chicago University of Chicago Press. Soroka, S. N. (2002). Agenda-Setting Dynamics in Canada. Vancouver, UBC Press. Weeklyschedule Lesson1.Introduction. Lesson2.Whocontrolstheagenda?Theagendasettermodel Reading:Brouard, S., Huber J. D. & E. Kerrouche L'analyse du choix rationnel en science politique , Revue Internationale de Politique Compare, Vol. 4, n1, 1997. Lesson3.Cognition,institutionandagendasetting

Fall2010 Reading:Simon, H. (1985). "Human Nature in Politics: The Dialogue of Psychology with Political Science." The American Political Science Review 79(2): 293-304. Lesson4.Realworld,agendasandtypesofissues Reading:Kepplinger, H. M. and H. Roth (1979). "Creating a Crisis: German Mass Media and Oil Supply in 1973-74." The Public Opinion Quarterly 43(3): 285-296. Lesson5.Issuedefinition:dimensionality,framing&tone Reading:Baumgartner, F. R., S. L. De Boef, et al. (2008). The Decline of the Death Penalty and the Discovery of Innocence. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. Chap. 4 & 5. Lesson6.Issuedynamics Reading:Downs, Anthony. 1972. Up and Down with Ecology: The Issue Attention Cycle. Public Interest, 28: 3850. Lesson7.Mediaagendas Reading:McCombs, M. E. and D. L. Shaw (1972). "The Agenda-Setting Function of Mass Media." The Public Opinion Quarterly 36(2): 176-187. Lesson8.Public(opinion)agendas Reading:McCombs, M. and J.-H. Zhu (1995). "Capacity, Diversity, and Volatility of the Public Agenda: Trends From 1954 to 1994." The Public Opinion Quarterly 59(4): 495-525. Lesson9.Policyagendas Reading:Wilkerson, J., F. R. Baumgartner, et al. (2009). "Le Projet Agendas Compars: principes, contenus et dfis." Revue Internationale de Politique Compare 16(3). Lesson10.Agendas,electionsandpublicpolicy Reading:S. Binzer Hobolt & S. Brouard, Contesting the European Union? Why the Dutch and the French Rejected the European Constitution , Political Research Quarterly, forthcoming 2010. Lesson11.Interagendasdynamics Reading:Soroka, S. N. (2002). Agenda-Setting Dynamics in Canada. Vancouver, UBC Press. Chap. 6 & 7. Lesson12.Thedynamicsofagendaschange:thepunctuatedequilibrium Reading:Baumgartner, F. R., C. Breunig, et al. (2009). "Punctuated Equilibrium in Comparative Perspective " American Journal of Political Science 53(3): 603-620.