Furthermore, platforms like Twitter allow us to give feedback to media companies, so we can set their agenda rather than the other way around. To some extent, such settings emerge from conditions prescribed by the funding body of the PASE activity, resulting in limited accountability of the dominant groups [83]. Other fields that frequently act as organisers of agenda setting activities, e.g. This article serves as introduction to the topical collection and presents an analysis of the contributions content asking: What are beneficial and limiting factors for conducting participatory agenda setting activities? The term was first used by McCombs and Shaw in 1972 to refer to the mass media as laying emphasis on certain . [82] describe a participatory agenda setting process aimed at integrating the needs of rural areas into research and innovation processes. Qual Health Res 15(9):12771288. Tech Anal Strat Manag 25(1):3955. Supporting data can be found in the annex of the manuscript. From the perspective of engaging with interest groups, and thus a consultative or consensus policy style, we might usefully divide agenda-setting instruments into types that seek to (a) routinise demands (such as consultations and stakeholder events), (b) regularise demands (such as legislative sunset clauses and scheduled reviews), or (c) generate demands (such as funding policy publics). It is useful to place this discussion within the broader discussion of policy styles. Furthermore, political appreciation of results and a will to implement democratic STI governance is a key limiting factor. Register to receive personalised research and resources by email. Eur J Futur Res 9(1):2. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40309-021-00171-6, Hinrichs MM, Johnston EW (2020) The creation of inclusive governance infrastructures through participatory agenda-setting. As Richardson (Citation2018) has recently re-stated, governments do not always ask nicely and seek consensus for change, they may simply impose preferred options. It is a reasonable assumption to make that tools to manage policy demands vary in their complexity (e.g. For this reason, amongst others, reflecting the fields normativity, actors roles and trailing implications have recently experienced a revival in technology assessment [86, 87] and sustainability science [88], and remain an ongoing activity. Causal logics and mechanisms in policy design: How and why adopting a mechanistic perspective can improve policy design, The knowns and unknowns of policy instrument analysis: Policy tools and the current research agenda on policy mixes, How policy instruments are chosen: Patterns of decision makers choices, Designing policy robustness: Outputs and processes, Narratives as tools for influencing policy change, The visible hand of the state: On the organization development of interest groups, Interest groups and (re)establishing stability in policy making: The case of the NSW farmers association and the native vegetation conservation act, Explaining policy bandwagons: Organized interest mobilization and cascades of attention, Interest groups and agenda-setting styles, Outside the issue niche: The multidimensionality of interest group identity, The rise and fall of social problems: A public arenas model, Intellectual obsolescence and intellectual makeovers: Reflections on the tools of government after two decades, Issue-Attention and punctuated equilibria models reconsidered: An empirical examination of the dynamics of agenda-setting in Canada, Managing the hollow state: Procedural policy instruments and modern governance, From tools to toolkits in policy design studies: The new design orientation towards policy formulation research, Agenda-Setting tools: State-driven agenda activity from government relations to scenario forecasting, Paper Presented at ECPR General Conference 2014. We use cookies to improve your website experience. Additionally, public interest in such basic research may be limited. Other communication theories that can also gain benefit from gatekeeping includes framing (Breed, 1955) etc. This paper aims to fill this gap by identifying different types of agenda-setting tools deployed by government which are used to shape engagement from organised interests. Hinrichs and Johnston [81] assess two PASE exercises for future-oriented education and health governance taking place within a specifically designed workshop space (the decision theatre), aimed at fostering informed decision-making. Registered in England & Wales No. This paper aims to explore the role of political parties in the agenda-setting in the context of Multiple streams approach (MSA), and thus to contribute to its theoretical development . 36, 1972, pp. Furthermore, the transference of a dominant actors power onto the process may lead to reproduction of an already dominant societal discourse or one that is politically desirable. This article serves as introduction to this journals topical collection on participatory agenda setting for research and innovation (PASE). Minerva 41(3):223244. Register a free Taylor & Francis Online account today to boost your research and gain these benefits: Agenda-setting instruments: means and strategies for the management of policy demands, The Australian National University, Australia, Mayflies and old bulls: Organization persistence in state interest communities, Strong states and weak states: Sectoral policy networks in advanced capitalist economies, Policy capacity: A design perspective. Stanford University Press, Stanford, Jasanoff S (2003) Technologies of humility: citizen participation in governing science. Abels and Bora [8] for instance conclude that regarding the high potentials of conflict in ethical debates [] participatory TA is an unpredictable tool with limited possibilities. When distributed ahead of the meeting, the agenda lets participants plan ahead in preparing materials or ideas on topics. Another way to expand on the typology of agenda-setting instruments is to link it to the discussion of high versus low-cost strategies, developed by Cobb and Ross . Hinrichs and Johnston [81] conclude that refined PASE can support the development of governance infrastructures that maintain inclusion and accountability of the public in the decision-making process, whilst Balzs et al. Kingdon: Theory of Multiple Streams Explains why some issues reach the agenda and are prominent and others are not. PubMedGoogle Scholar. Routledge, London, Curato N, Dryzek JS, Ercan SA, Hendriks CM, Niemeyer S (2017) Twelve key findings in deliberative democracy research. Gudowsky et al. Current governance of science, technology and innovation (STI) faces tough challenges to meet demands arising from complex issues such as societal challenges [1,2,3] or the United Nations Sustainable Development GoalsFootnote 1. Managing the demands making it onto the governmental agenda, Establishing working groups, set-piece policy consultations on discussion papers, parliamentary inquiries, taskforces taking submissions, Permitting issues (back) on the governmental agenda at set intervals, Sunset clauses in legislation; Statutory Reviews, Fostering policy demands to help proactively shape governmental agenda, Funding of (or procuring research from) think tanks, interest groups, consultants to foster demands, Unilaterally install government issue priority onto the agenda in absence of consultation (especially after change of government, focussing event or crisis), Policy statements by the Executive, Exclusive Summits, Govt. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2013.05.008, Abels G, Bora A (2016) Ethics and public participation in technology assessment, Grunwald A (2018) Technology assessment in practice and theory. Although the agenda should be negotiated with . Enhancing reflexivity is an often-mentioned benefit of PASE activities. in nanotechnologies [58]. This affirmation leads us to treat the agenda setting and framing approaches not as competing theories but as complementary ones, as put forth theoretically in recent literature (McCombs & Bell, 1997; Ghanem, 1997; McCombs, 1994). 2. From a policy-making perspective, the agenda-setting phase is crucial. Eur J Futur Res 8(1):5. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40309-020-00164-x, Bauer A, Kastenhofer K (2019) Policy advice in technology assessment: shifting roles, principles and boundaries. J Environ Stud Sci 7(1):5368. A transdisciplinary approach to complex societal issues. BMC Med Ethics 17(1):33. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12910-016-0117-1, Turb A, Barba J, Pelacho M, Mugdal S, Robinson LD, Serrano-Sanz F, Sanz F, Tsinaraki C, Rubio J-M, Schade S (2019) Understanding the citizen science landscape for European environmental policy: an assessment and recommendations. While agendas can be useful for organizing and managing discussions and decision-making processes, they also have several disadvantages that can negatively impact the effectiveness of the meeting or gathering. Politically neutral boundary organisations can also foster the growth of networks between diverse social groups and therefore foster collaboration [81]. Thus, it makes sense to account for how this process of agenda-setting and the tools policymakers use to manage agenda-setting against these two broad styles. [82] reflect on PASE organisers non-neutrality in exercising agency when they are translating and transferring issues into respective networks and agendas. Capano & Lippi, Citation2017) but also how they are assembled as policy mixes or portfolios to attain specific policy goals (Howlett, Mukherjee, & Woo, Citation2015). On the other hand, scientific knowledge does have an additional independent effect. Minerva. Thus, it is reasonable to expect that many instruments will be directed to managing these recurring items. Most of the early work on policy tools focussed on the number and types of tools (see Hood, Citation1986; Kirschen et al., Citation1964; Lowi, Citation1966; Schneider & Ingram, Citation1990) with the aim to develop taxonomies and frameworks for describing how governments pursue policy goals in different policy sectors (Hood, Citation2007; Howlett, Citation2000; Salamon, Citation2002). Correspondence to https://doi.org/10.1177/0162243904271724, Manaf E, Petermann L, Vandall-Walker V, Mason-Lai P (2018) Patient and public engagement in priority setting: a systematic rapid review of the literature. In combination with anticipation and reflection, responsiveness can become a transformative ingredient of responsibilisation of actors and institutions in R&I systems [15].
