Comparing governmental agendas
Subtitle: evolution of the prioritization of issues in the USA and Spain
By: Laura Chaqués [and others]
Series: IBEI working papers -- 2008/14; Working papers (Institut Barcelona d'Estudis Internacionals) -- 2008/14.
Publisher: Institut Barcelona d'Estudis Internacionals
Published: 2008
Place of publication: Barcelona
Language: eng
Number of pages: 31
Subjects: Politics and government; Political stability; Comparative government
Other titles: Comparing governmental agendas :
Description: Abstract: This paper is the first step in a long term project investigating policy stability and change in Spain from an agenda setting perspective and comparing the Spanish policy agenda to that of other advanced democracies. Here we begin to compare the allocation of issue attention in Spain and the USA by comparing the substance of annual President and Prime Minister speeches from 1982 to 2005. Existing research argues that the public agenda has become more crowded, competitive and volatile in recent years. We find that in both countries there has been a transformation of the political agenda towards an increasing diversity of issues. However, most of the volatility in executive attention seems to be explained by salient events rather than by issue crowding. We conclude by discussing some limitations of executive speeches as a measure of governmental issue attention and directions for future research.
Notes: "June 2008"--T.p. verso.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 29-31).