Agenda Setting (Public Administration)

The first phase, and generally considered the key part, of the public policy-making process. It is through the agenda setting process that decision makers identify which problems need action. There are several different actors involved in the process, including the president, elected officials, the media, interest groups, and the public. The agenda-setting process includes phases such as problem recognition (how problems are identified by decision makers); salience, or the relative importance one gives to an issue; gatekeeping, or the control of salience; and framing, which attributes importance to issues.

Decision makers are influenced by many actors, including the media, interest groups, and the public. Policy generation refers to producing solutions to the identified problem. Solutions are often generated by experts and think tanks. For action to occur on the proposed solutions to the identified problem, the political climate must be relevant. For more information, see Kingdon (1995).