Agenda-Setting and Policy Results: Lessons From Three Drug Policy Episodes

• NCJ Number: 157840
• Journal: Policy Studies Journal Volume: 20 Issue: 4 Dated: (1992) Pages: 538-551
• Author(s): E B Sharp
• Date Published: 1992
• Length: 14 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: DCC

Annotation

Three episodes of United States policymaking concerning illicit drugs were analyzed; one occurred during the Nixon administration, one during the Carter administration, and one is the contemporary war on drugs.

Abstract

Using data from drug-related Congressional hearings, the Gallup Poll, counts of relevant articles in the Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature, and content analysis of the New York Times Index, the three episodes were characterized as fitting one of Cobb, Ross, and Ross's (1976) models of agenda-setting. The linkages between these differences in agenda setting and the contrasting policy content of each episode were then examined. Results revealed that while the Nixon and Carter episodes exemplified the dynamics of mobilization and inside-access agenda-setting respectively, the contemporary drug policy episode is anomalous. Findings suggest the need for an extension of the Cobb, Ross, and Ross typology to incorporate a new, network type of agenda- setting. Figures, notes, appended methodological information and additional results, and 13 references (Author abstract modified)