Behind the scenes of agenda setting
The Montesquieu Institute Campus The Hague team organized a think tank
session with invited guests to discuss the world behind the scenes of
agenda setting. Among the participants were MI fellows Gerard Breeman i,
Hanco Jürgens i and Ruud Koole i; PhD researchers Petya Alexandrova i and
Wimar Bolhuis i; as well as colleagues from Leiden University, Campus
The Hague Anchrit Wille, Uli Mans and Gideon Shimshon. The session
resulted in a lively debate chaired by MI Research Director Arco
Timmermans.
One of the central questions discussed was what issues will enter the
political scenes in the coming time. The group discussed some of the
conditions that cause promoting or hindering an issue to reach the
governmental agenda and become prominent in policy making.
The discussion got two general points of view. On the one hand this
means zooming out and looking at the system, and on the other hand the
group zoomed in into different topics. Exemplary for the first point
of view was a discussion about governance. The act of governance with
(de)centralization is itself a subject, but it also led to other
topics. In the field of social policies it is de-centralization that
currently plays a major role. Another observation about the system was
the tendency to more depolitization and a more technocratic system.
Zooming in, some "frequently seen friends" on the agenda were
discussed. These are for example sustainable energy and education. But
the biggest surprises in the future are no `usual suspects'. The
topics discussed during European summits will rise on the agenda. An
example is 3D printing. It changes not only the debate on security and
safety drastically because printing weapons becomes possible. The
production of other products may change as well. These and other
topics that may occupy an important place on the agenda in the coming
years were discussed during this think tank session organized by
Campus The Hague in the framework of the MI Summer Conference 2013.