The Model of Public Policy Agenda Setting in China

1. Closing mode

This is the most traditional agenda setting mode. In this model, there is no place for the public agenda; The proposer of the agenda is the decision makers themselves, who have not won or think it is unnecessary to win the support of the public when deciding the agenda.

in traditional society, when ordinary people have little sense of political participation, this is the main mode of agenda setting. In contemporary China, this agenda-setting model has not completely disappeared, and the "price breakthrough" in 1988 may be regarded as an example.

2. Mobilization mode

Like the closed-door mode, the agenda in the mobilization mode is also put forward by the decision makers; Different from the closed-door model, in the mobilization model, after an agenda is determined, decision makers will do everything possible to arouse people's interest in the agenda and win their support for it. That is, there is a policy agenda first and then a public agenda.

3. Internal reference mode

In the internal reference mode, the agenda is not put forward by decision makers, but by government think tanks close to the power core. Various think tanks make suggestions to decision makers through various channels, hoping that their suggestions can be included in the decision-making agenda.

They tend not to strive for public support, but pay more attention to the appreciation of decision makers; Sometimes they don't even want the issues discussed to become the public agenda, because they are worried that their bills may lead to public opposition and eventually lead to the veto of decision makers. In this model, there is no interaction between people and decision makers, only the interaction between think tanks and decision makers.

Extended information:

Related background

Public policy is a new interdisciplinary subject that emerged in the United States after the Second World War. The emergence of public policy as a discipline is not only the inevitable requirement of the rapid development of society, economy and politics in the contemporary world, but also closely related to the special social situation in the United States after the war.

although there are many reasons for the emergence of the discipline of public policy, the more direct reasons are mainly the following aspects: the pressure of social problems; The needs of government management; The development of political science.