Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies, Update Edition, with an Epilogue on Health Care

by Kingdon, John W.

• ISBN13: 9780205000869
• ISBN10: 020500086X
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-06-17
• Publisher: Pearson

Summary

Updated in a new 2 nd edition,Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policieshas been reissued in this Longman Classics edition, featuring a new epilogue: Health Care Reform from Clinton to Obama. Comparing the Clinton administration in 1993 with the Obama administration in 2009 and 2010, Kingdon analyses how agenda setting, actors, and alternatives affect public policy.

Table of Contents

Preface to the First Edition	p. xvii
Preface to the Second Edition	p. xix
How Does an Idea's Time Come?	p. 1
Concepts and Definitions	p. 2
A Brief Account of the Research	p. 4
The Lay of the Land	p. 5
Some Explanations	p. 15
A Brief Preview of the Book	p. 18
Participants on the Inside of Government	p. 21
The Administration	p. 21
By Contrast: Civil Servants	p. 30
Capitol Hill	p. 34
Conclusion	p. 42
Outside of Government, but Not Just Looking In	p. 45
Interest Groups	p. 46
Academics, Researchers, and Consultants	p. 53
The Media	p. 57
Elections-Related Participants	p. 61
Public Opinion	p. 65
Conclusion	p. 67
Processes: Origins, Rationality, Incrementalism, and Garbage Cans	p. 71
Origins	p. 71
Comprehensive, Rational Decision Making	p. 77
Incrementalism	p. 79
The Federal Government and Garbage Cans	p. 83
Problems	p. 90
Indicators	p. 90
Focusing Events, Crises, and Symbols	p. 94
Feedback	p. 100
Why Problems Fade	p. 103
Budgets: A Special Problem	p. 105
Problem Definition	p. 109
Conclusion	p. 113
The Policy Primeval Soup	p. 116
Policy Communities	p. 117
Communities and the Soup	p. 121
Criteria for Survival	p. 131
The Short List of Ideas	p. 139
Conclusion	p. 143
The Political Stream	p. 145
The National Mood	p. 146
Organized Political Forces	p. 150
Government in the Political Stream	p. 153
Consensus-Building in the Political Stream	p. 159
Conclusion	p. 162
The Policy Window, and Joining the Streams	p. 165
What Policy Windows Are and Why They Open	p. 166
Coupling	p. 172
Policy Entrepreneurs	p. 179
Occurrence of Windows	p. 184
Spillovers	p. 190
Conclusion	p. 194
Wrapping Things Up	p. 196
Agenda Setting	p. 197
Alternative Specification	p. 200
Coupling and Windows	p. 201
Entrepreneurs	p. 204
Conclusion	p. 205
Some Further Reflections	p. 209
New Case Studies	p. 209
Thoughts about the Modelling	p. 222
Epilogue: Health Care Reform in the Clinton and Obama Administrations	p. 231
Problems	p. 232
Policies	p. 236
The Political Stream	p. 239
The Open Window	p. 241
The Rest of the Story	p. 243
Conclusion	p. 247
Appendix on Methods	p. 249
The Interviews	p. 250
Coding	p. 255
Case Studies	p. 258
Noninterview Measures of Agenda Status	p. 260
Index	p. 263
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