Agendas and Instability in American Politics |
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Author:
| Baumgartner, Frank R. Jones, Bryan D. |
Series title: | American Politics and Political Economy Ser. |
ISBN: | 978-0-226-03939-8 |
Publication Date: | Jan 1993 |
Publisher: | University of Chicago Press
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Book Format: | Paperback |
List Price: | AUD $57.99 |
Book Description:
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In this innovative account of the way policy issues rise and fall on the national agenda--the first detailed study of so many issues over an extended period--Frank R. Baumgartner and Bryan D. Jones show that rapid change not only can but does happen in the hidebound institutions of government. Short-term, single-issue analyses of public policy, the authors contend, give a narrow and distorted view of public policy as the result of a cozy arrangement between...
More DescriptionIn this innovative account of the way policy issues rise and fall on the national agenda--the first detailed study of so many issues over an extended period--Frank R. Baumgartner and Bryan D. Jones show that rapid change not only can but does happen in the hidebound institutions of government.
Short-term, single-issue analyses of public policy, the authors contend, give a narrow and distorted view of public policy as the result of a cozy arrangement between politicians, interest groups, and the media. Baumgartner and Jones upset these notions by focusing on several issues--including civilian nuclear power, urban affairs, smoking, and auto safety--over a much longer period of time to reveal patterns of stability alternating with bursts of rapid, unpredictable change.
A welcome corrective to conventional political wisdom, Agendas and Instability revises our understanding of the dynamics of agenda-setting and clarifies a subject at the very center of the study of American politics.