Public Policy Cycle: Agenda

Welcome to the public policy cycle: agenda setting. This is where the cycle starts. An item--a neutral term for now--must get attention, otherwise policy will not result. There is far more demand for government action than can be considered at any given time. The attention and the calendar of Congress, or your state legislature, is limited. What I call agenda triage occurs--sorting and allocating based on setting priorities, originally a battlefield medical service phenomenon. How is the agenda set? This question looms large here.

I emphasize agenda setting as foundational for the public policy cycle. Why? Getting an item onto the agenda is a form of power. Keeping an item off the agenda can also demonstrate power. Some examples:

Capital returns tax cuts keeping coming back to the agenda.
Homelessness tends to get ignored.

Why do you think this is so?

Agenda

Agenda Contents^