http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3 http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/mods-3-2.xsd
Presidential agenda setting in foreign policy
xii, 251 leaves : illustrations ; 28 cm.
Agenda setting is the critical first stage of the policy process that determines which issues government will address. Given its importance, agenda setting is fundamental to presidential leadership in American politics. Few scholars have empirically examined the president's role in the process or the president's ability to influence other agendas. A conventional wisdom persists claiming that presidents are effective agenda setters. I challenge the conventional wisdom of presidential predominance in agenda setting, instead claiming that presidents are responsive to competing agendas and their policy environments. I examine presidential agenda setting in the most presidential of policies, foreign policy. My analysis clearly shows that presidents are constrained substantially by international events and competing institutions, particularly the media, when defining their own agenda and when trying to influence other agendas. The results indicate only marginal influence of presidents on the foreign policy agenda. I examine ten different foreign policy issues, from 1984 to 1995, using sophisticated time series methods, including Vector Autoregression analysis and impact assessment analysis.
Issued also on microfiche from University Microfilm Inc.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 221-229).