Setting the agenda on agenda setting, this Handbook explores how and why private matters become public issues and occasionally government priorities. It provides a comprehensive overview and analysis of the perspectives, individuals, and institutions involved in setting the government’s agenda at subnational, national, and international levels.

Contents: 1. Setting the Agenda on Agenda Setting: Definitions, Concepts, and Controversies Nikolaos Zahariadis Part I. People and Context 2. A Radical Idea Tamed: The Work of Roger Cobb and Charles Elder Bryan D. Jones 3. Agenda Setting, Problem Definition, and their Contributions to a Political Policy Analysis David A. Rochefort 4. John Kingdon and the Evolutionary Approach to Public Policy and Agenda Setting Frank R. Baumgartner Part II. Theoretical Developments 5. Punctuated Equilibrium Theory Christoffer Green-Pedersen and Sebastiaan Princen 6. Multiple Streams Analysis: A Flexible Metaphor Presents an Opportunity to Operationalize Agenda Setting Processes Paul Cairney and Nikolaos Zahariadis 7. Making Sense of Complexity: The NPF and Agenda Setting Holly L. Peterson and Michael D. Jones 8. Constructivism and Agenda Setting Sabine Saurugger Part III. Institutional Dimensions 9. Political Agenda Setting by the Mass Media Peter Van Aelst and Stefaan Walgrave 10. Policy Entrepreneurship and Agenda Setting Nissim Cohen 11. Interest Groups and Agenda Setting Laura Chaqués-Bonafont 12. Political Parties and the Policy Agenda Vilém Novotný, Martin Polášek, and Michel Perottino 13. Presidential Power and Agenda Setting Paul Rutledge 14. The Domestication of a “Wild” Problem: Taming Policy Agenda Setting Philippe Zittoun 15. Knowledge, Epistemic Communities, and Agenda Setting Claire A. Dunlop Part IV. Comparative Applications across Levels of Government 16. Local Government Agenda Setting Rebecca Eissler, Peter B. Mortensen, Annelise Russell 17. Agenda Setting Dynamics and Differences across Issues: Agenda Setting on the Economy and Foreign Policy Jeffrey S. Peake 18. Communications Policy in the EU: The UK as a Policy Entrepreneur Alison Harcourt 19. Agenda Setting in the European Union: From Sui Generis to Mainstream Sebastiaan Princen 20. The United Nations and Agenda Setting Jutta Joachim and Natalia Dalmer Part V. Agendas and Crises 21. Attention and Natural Disasters Thomas A. Birkland 22. Institutional Crisis and the Policy Agenda Chris Ansell, Arjen Boin, and Sanneke Kuipers 23. Financial Regulation and Agenda Dynamics: Impacts of the Global Financial Crisis Roy Gava 24. Problem Definition and the Social Dimensions of Crises Stella Ladi Index