Agendas and Instability in American Politics
Agendas and Instability in American Politics – Frank R. Baumgartner & Bryan D. Jones
(Precis)
In this book, authors Baumgartner and Jones present an analysis of the nature of the policymaking process and national agenda setting. The authors’ methodology in this study was to conduct an empirical study examining national policy issues over time and then highlight any notable patterns. In the book, the authors develop a political model to account of long periods of stability in policies where entrenched interests are evident, but also times where policy change happens relatively quickly and seems to favor new avenues of influence.
The authors utilize a model of evolution known as “punctuated equilibrium,” which was originally developed by paleontologists, to describe the dynamics and patterns of policy change. This process of punctuated equilibrium asserts that the political system “displays considerable stability with regard to the manner in which it processes issues, but the stability is punctuated with periods of volatile change” (Baumgartner & Jones 1993: 4). This change can be represented by an S-curve or a logistic growth curve illustrating a slow policy adoption at first, then a rapid push an enthusiastic support for it, then after it has saturated the national scene the process starts again. The authors go on to explore public policies in nuclear power, smoking, drug abuse, auto safety, etc. then describe them according to the punctuated equilibrium model. Baumgartner and James make the argument that institutions reproduce a particular policy agenda and therefore act to lengthen the life of some policies and in some cases can even create a monopoly on that agenda. Once the monopoly on the agenda is set, changes to the general policy will tend to happen incrementally (Baumgartner & Jones 1993: 5).
Two mainstays of instituting a policy monopoly are 1) a definable institutional structure that limits access to the policy process and 2) a
(Precis)
In this book, authors Baumgartner and Jones present an analysis of the nature of the policymaking process and national agenda setting. The authors’ methodology in this study was to conduct an empirical study examining national policy issues over time and then highlight any notable patterns. In the book, the authors develop a political model to account of long periods of stability in policies where entrenched interests are evident, but also times where policy change happens relatively quickly and seems to favor new avenues of influence.
The authors utilize a model of evolution known as “punctuated equilibrium,” which was originally developed by paleontologists, to describe the dynamics and patterns of policy change. This process of punctuated equilibrium asserts that the political system “displays considerable stability with regard to the manner in which it processes issues, but the stability is punctuated with periods of volatile change” (Baumgartner & Jones 1993: 4). This change can be represented by an S-curve or a logistic growth curve illustrating a slow policy adoption at first, then a rapid push an enthusiastic support for it, then after it has saturated the national scene the process starts again. The authors go on to explore public policies in nuclear power, smoking, drug abuse, auto safety, etc. then describe them according to the punctuated equilibrium model. Baumgartner and James make the argument that institutions reproduce a particular policy agenda and therefore act to lengthen the life of some policies and in some cases can even create a monopoly on that agenda. Once the monopoly on the agenda is set, changes to the general policy will tend to happen incrementally (Baumgartner & Jones 1993: 5).
Two mainstays of instituting a policy monopoly are 1) a definable institutional structure that limits access to the policy process and 2) a