Building on hundreds of thousands of systematically collected and content-coded local policy agenda observations, this book examines theoretically and empirically - the policy agenda effects of four central aspects of any political system: the institutions that structure politics; the problems confronting the political system; the occurrence of regular and free elections ; and the actors navigating the political system. Developing an explanatory model based on these four factors not only improves our understanding of the determinants of the local policy agenda but also contributes to a further integration of local government research, policy agendas research, and the broader discipline of political science. The book may be of particular interest to scholars and students of comparative politics, agenda setting, public policy, and local government.

Advances our explanatory models of policy agendas by studying them at the local level of politics Provides new, important insights about the functioning of local politics that is gained by studying local policy agendas Presents the first large-N study of how key actors in government influence local policy agendas

Autorentext

Peter B. Mortensen is Professor of Political Science at Aarhus University, Denmark.

Matt W. Loftis is Associate Professor of Political Science at Aarhus University, Denmark.

Henrik B. Seeberg is Associate Professor of Political Science at Aarhus University, Denmark.

Inhalt
Chapter 1. Why study local policy agendas.- Chapter 2. How to study local policy agendas.- Chapter 3. Jurisdiction size and the local policy agenda.- Chapter 4. Committee structure and the local policy agenda.- Chapter 5. Local problems and the local policy agenda.- Chapter 6. Local elections, local actors, and the local policy agenda.- Chapter 7. Toward an explanatory model of local policy agendas.