Agenda Cases | Public Policy, ENST207

Summary: This page provides illustrations of agenda-setting as background for Public Policy. The page will incude new items as appropriate.

You should study this page along with the explanations listed in the section on agenda in the course schedule. I include links and a short statement on why I provide each entry below.

Policy Agenda Initiatives and Cases

  1. The Iraq War provides a case of using the levers of media to promote an agenda item. Michael J. Mazarr, from the U.S. National War College, has contributed an article that uses the tools of agenda setting to promote the war: The Iraq War and Agenda Setting, Foreign Policy Analysis (2007) 3, 1–23.

  2. Michelle Obama has become a policy champion on the issue of junk food for children. See the Let's Move! web site.

  3. The Reagan and subsequent Bush administrations showed little interest in energy policy but the transition to the presidency of Bill Clinton opened up an opportunity to revamp the Department of Energy. See how the Clinton administration framed the energy issue.

Towards a Sustainability Agenda

  1. Climate scientists have forcefully raised alarm on climate change. See Scientists Sound Alarm on Climate by Justin Gillis in the New York Times, March 18, 2014. See the video What We Know by the Ameican Association for the Advancement of Science. Paul Gilding, author of The Great Disruption, explains how climate change may get to the macro agenda.

  2. View a New York Times video on Malala, the Pakistani girl who has forcefully placed the education of girls on the global agenda. The education of girls is perhaps the most crucial issue for the social side of world sustainability. You may also enjoy the longer version of the Malala story, the New York Times video: Class Dismissed: The Death of Female Education. This illustrates the concept of a champion of an agenda.

  3. I regard the concern with prosperity and economic growth as critical. Getting it on the agends remains a persistent obstacle to sustainability. Gus Speth explains how a very different paradigm of economic growth will be necessary to pursue sustainability. See James Gustave Speth, Off the Pedestal: Creating a New Vision of Economic Growth, from Yale Environment 360, May 30, 2011.

© Wayne Hayes, Ph.D. | ™ ProfWork | wkhayes@gmail.com
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