Abstract
The concept of agenda-setting has resulted in vibrant research in political science. The aim of this Special Issue is to advance the state of research on water governance by alluding to the possibilities for applying this particular theoretical perspective to water issues. Agenda-setting concerns how and when issues enter the public debate (discussion agenda) or are taken into account by policymakers with a view to proposing policies (decision agenda). Simply put, agenda-setting is about the process of drawing or paying attention to certain issues. Despite the intuitiveness of this concept, the underlying political and societal processes related to water governance are complex and require careful research designs in order to realize the full potential of agenda-setting research. The contributions to this Special Issue combine theoretically convincing research on agenda-setting with research on issues in water governance.
Highlights
The public spotlight is normally on governments and members of parliament as they debate levels of regulation, consequential policy decisions are made at a much earlier stage in the political process, namely when the so-called agenda is being set
An example of media framing and how it affects the discussion agenda is provided by Olsen and Osmundsen, who investigate agenda-setting related to aquaculture in Norway, which represents an important economic sector of the country [2]
The contributions by Witting et al [36], Breuer and Oswald Spring [38], and to some extent the contribution by Arfan et al [44] show how issues are placed on discussion or decision agendas
Summary
The public spotlight is normally on governments and members of parliament as they debate levels of regulation, consequential policy decisions are made at a much earlier stage in the political process, namely when the so-called agenda is being set. The principal focus of agenda-setting research in comparative public policy has been to explain the causes and patterns of policy change [19] In this regard, the possibility of placing issues on the political agenda has been regarded as a source of power [18]. Considering the number of actors involved in water governance and the number of institutional venues in which the related political processes take place, it appears an ideal policy domain for investigating agenda-setting processes. This Special Issue combines the study of water governance with the theoretical perspective of agenda-setting, and in so doing strives to provide novel insights that can advance both research on agenda-setting and on water governance. The agenda-setting perspective holds considerable promise for the study of water governance, and the following overview of contributions to this Special Issue will show that it facilitates a diverse set of research despite a parsimonious theoretical underpinning
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