Arco Timmermans

Effects of the Core Functions of Government on the Diversity of Executive Agendas

The distribution of attention across issues is of fundamental importance to the political agenda and outputs of government. This article presents an issue-based theory of the diversity of governing agendas where the core functions of government—defense, international affairs, the economy, government operations, and the rule of law—are prioritized ahead of all other issues. It undertakes comparative analysis of issue diversity of the executive agenda of several European countries and the United States over the postwar period. The results offer strong evidence of the limiting effect of core issues—the economy, government operations, defense, and international affairs—on agenda diversity. This suggests not only that some issues receive more attention than others but also that some issues are attended to only at times when the agenda is more diverse. When core functions of government are high on the agenda, executives pursue a less diverse agenda—focusing the majority of their attention on fewer issues. Some issues are more equal than others in executive agenda setting.

Comparing Government Agendas Executive Speeches in the Netherlands, United Kingdom, and Denmark

At the beginning of each parliamentary session, almost all European governments give a speech in which they present the government’s policy priorities and legislative agenda for the year ahead. Despite the body of literature on governments in European parliamentary democracies, systematic research on these executive policy agendas is surprisingly limited. In this article the authors study the executive policy agendas—measured through the policy content of annual government speeches—over the past 50 years in three Western European countries: the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Denmark. Contrary to the expectations derived from the well-established “politics matters” approach, the analyses show that elections and change in partisan color have little effect on the executive issue agendas, except to a limited extent for the United Kingdom. In contrast, the authors demonstrate empirically how the policy agenda of governments responds to changes in public problems, and this affects how political parties define these problems as political issues. In other words, policy responsibility that follows from having government power seems much more important for governments’ issue agendas than the partisan and institutional characteristics of governments.

High politics in the low countries : an empirical study of coalition agreements in Belgium and the Netherlands

Government formation and beyond: an empirical study Bargaining, policy, and coalition agreements Functions and effects of coalition agreements Case studies: coalitions in Belgium and the Netherlands The Leburton government (1973-74) The Tindemans V government (1977-78) The Van Agt II government (1981-82) The Lubbers I government (1982-86) The Kok I government (1994-98) The high politics of coalition agreements.

The political flow of wisdom: science institutions as policy venues in The Netherlands

Abstract This paper deals with the different roles that scientific knowledge can play in shaping and redefining policy images, focusing on two quite distinct policy fields in The Netherlands: immigrant policy and assisted reproductive technology policy. Interactions between policy-makers and scientific experts are linked to processes of negative and positive feedback in which a policy monopoly is maintained or attacked. We show how science and the structural arrangements through which it is produced and disseminated can truly be a ‘venue’ for depoliticization or for fuelling emerging policy disputes. The two cases of immigrant integration and reproductive medicine show variation in topic, tone and tempo, but we also consider points of similarity that may stem from broader features of the system. We conclude with a discussion of institutional conditions for the nexus of science and politics, and point a way for further investigating this subject in cross-national comparative research.

Arenas as Institutional Sites for Policymaking: Patterns and Effects in Comparative Perspective

In comparative approaches to the policy process, policymaking institutions are usually considered at the level of political systems. Countries, however, may vary not only in systemic institutions but also in types of policymaking arenas within specific domains. Systematic attention to this variation in policy arenas at both levels may complement existing theories of the policy process that focus on other explanatory variables and may increase the comparative potential of these approaches. As an explanatory variable, arena variation makes a difference to policy results in that it may increase or decrease the potential for policy change sought by policy entrepreneurs.

Measuring the European Council agenda: Introducing a new approach and dataset

This article introduces a novel dataset on the agenda of the European Council, the most powerful political body and core informal agenda setter of the EU. Using the approach taken by the Comparative Agendas Project, we trace political issue attention over a 38-year period (1975–2012). The insights in the agenda-setting processes within the European Council shed more light on the overall agenda of the EU and its temporal dynamics. This article explains the construction of the dataset, describes its features, and gives some examples of possible applications.

Setting the Immigrant Policy Agenda: Expertise and Politics in the Netherlands, France and the United Kingdom

Abstract Policy making and agenda setting often are analyzed either in terms of how policy problems are defined, or in terms of the structural setting producing stability or opportunities for change. Building on different fields of scholarly work, this paper aims at an integration of structural and substantive elements in studying agenda setting. We analyze how particular frames of immigrant issues emerge in the interaction between policy makers and experts within this immigrant policy domain. By comparing this key element of agenda setting in the Netherlands, France and the United Kingdom, we show how different types of interaction produce different substantive policy frames. If immigrant integration is shaped primarily as a policy issue in broader political arenas and the media, a different frame emerges than when venues such as advisory bodies, think tanks and bureaucracies with limited access and less public exposure are involved.

Analysing Local Policy Agendas: How Dutch Municipal Executive Coalitions Allocate Attention

Abstract This article provides an analysis of the allocation of attention to policy problems on the local level, focusing on the executive agenda of six municipalities in the Netherlands over a 25-year period. It reveals that there is specifically a local politics of attention, showing differences between national and local policy agendas in specific policy areas. We did not find evidence that the political composition of the local executive coalitions leads to agenda differences, revealing the more problem-oriented and pragmatic nature of local politics. We did find evidence of an effect of institutional arrangements between national and local government on shifting patterns of attention, such as due to decentralisation. This shows that the local politics of attention is limited in scope and conditioned by the functions of local government and the institutional arrangements of policy making in the Dutch decentralised unitary state and that rearrangements affect these patterns of attention.

Morality Issues in the Netherlands: Coalition Politics under Pressure

A century ago a government composed of Christian parties successfully passed new legislation on contraception, abortion and prostitution (Outshoorn 2001: 205).1 What came to be known as the restrictive ‘Morality Acts’ of 1911 remained in force for more than 60 years, until changes to Dutch society and party political landscape led to a new legislative agenda. However, calls for more permissive policies and actual legislative reform in the Dutch coalition system do not meet so easily, especially in matters of morality that involve religious principles. Such religious principles are institutionalized in the party system, where Christian parties compete with secular parties. They often conflict over issue definitions, but nearly always have to take office together to build a stable parliamentary majority. Thus, in the Dutch system of coalition governments, the religious versus secular conflict is almost constantly present.

From Summitry to EU Government: An Agenda Formation Perspective on the European Council†

While some observers have claimed that the European Council has become the key institution in European Union politics, others have argued that the Councils role has remained relatively stable over time. In this article, we argue that an analysis of agenda formation dynamics in the European Council may help us understand better how the European Council works and how its role has evolved over time. Building on theories of agenda‐setting, we identify two ideal‐typical modes of agenda formation: selective targeting and routine monitoring. Based on a comprehensive dataset of coded European Council Conclusions in the period 1975–2011, we show that the substantive content of the European Council agenda shows little change over time. However, in terms of agenda formation dynamics, we find a marked shift toward routine monitoring of issues. This supports the claim that the European Council is developing into the EUs de facto government.