Publisher's Synopsis
A timely look at the politics of agenda setting in relation to the car, under both the Conservative and Labour governments since the late 1980s. In the 1990s a number of important and influential works have been published which have refocused researchers on the importance of agenda setting in the process of public policy. This book builds firmly on this trend, whilst utilizing as its case study the increasingly politically salient issue of public policy surrounding the car. Throughout the analysis the book builds a new approach to agenda setting, arguing that no one model of agenda setting is adequate to explain policy change in this case. The car has been chosen as a case study for two key reasons. First, it proves a particularly useful tool for studying the politics of agenda setting. Second, the car is a key aspect of family spending with many citizens now almost totally dependent on the car. Such issues raise significant paradoxes for government. This book reflects on these paradoxes, arguing that agenda setting models can help us to understand how governments are responding to them. Thus the strength of the book is twofold: the innovative utilization of agenda setting theory and the focus on a case study of global resonance.
