Jean Monnet Module on Agenda-Setting in the European Union – ASEU
Introduction to the Module.
Marcello Carammia (University of Malta)
Description: This introductory lecture starts with a discussion of the aims, functioning, organization and
contents of the module. We then introduce theoretical and empirical questions about political agendas and
agenda-setting processes, both in general terms and in relation to the context of the European Union. We
define political agendas, and then explore the functioning of agenda-setting process. We address such
questions as how problems enter the agenda of a political system, how the way a problem enter the
agenda affects the solutions that are proposed, and what are the main actors and factors relevant to
agenda-setting processes. We ask how political systems manage to address multiple issues in spite of the
limited nature of a crucial resource: attention. We then move on to the main theories that seek to explain
how political systems define their priorities. We start with resource dependency and social constructivist
models, then move on to those ‘synthetic’ models that seek to incorporate the complexity and multicausality of agenda-setting – focusing particularly on Kingdon multiple streams model and Baumgartner
and Jones punctuated equilibrium framework.
In the second part of the lecture we complete the theoretical introduction discussing different models of
interactions between society and politics in setting the political agenda. We then explore how these
questions and theories apply to the context of the European Union, addressing the question whether, to
what extent, and with what respect the European Union is ‘special’ as an agenda-setting arena, and how
we can make sense of EU agenda-setting processes.
Readings
Core readings:
Howlett, M., M. Ramesh, e Anthony Perl. 2009. Studying Public Policy: Policy Cycles and Policy Subsystems.
Oxford: Oxford University Press. Chapter 4.
Lelieveldt, Herman, e Sebastiaan Princen. 2011. The Politics of the European Union. Cambridge University
Press. Chapter 9.
Princen, Sebastiaan. 2007. «Agenda-setting in the European Union: a theoretical exploration and agenda
for research». Journal of European Public Policy 14(1): 21–38.
Further readings:
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Baumgartner, Frank, and Bryan Jones. 2009. Agendas and Instability in American Politics. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press(esp. ch.1-3).
Cobb, Roger W., Jennie-Keith Ross, e Mark Howard Ross. 1976. «Agenda Building as a Comparative Political
Process». American Political Science Review 70(1): 126–138.
Kingdon, John W. 1995. 2nd ed Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies. New York: HarperCollins College
Publishers.
Princen, Sebastiaan. 2009. Agenda-setting in the European Union. London: Palgrave Macmillan, (esp. ch.12).
Princen, Sebastiaan. 2012. «Agenda-Setting and the Formation of an EU Policy-Making State», in
Richardson, Jeremy (ed.) Constructing a Policy-Making State? Policy Dynamics in the EU. New York:
Oxford University Press.
Princen, Sebastiaan, e Mark Rhinard. 2006. «Crashing and creeping: agenda-setting dynamics in the
European Union». Journal of European Public Policy 13(7): 1119–1132
Peters, B. Guy 2001. «Agenda-setting in the European Union». In European Union: power and policymaking in Jeremy Richardson (ed.) European Union: Power and Policy-Making, New York: Routledge (2nd
ed.), 77–94.
Zahariadis, Nikolaos. 2008. «Ambiguity and choice in European public policy». Journal of European Public
Policy 15(4): 514–530.
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