Local government agenda setting

This chapter introduces the historic and intellectual roots of local agenda setting studies, which date back to the US community power studies conducted from the 1950s to the 1970s. Furthermore, it identifies two different perspectives in local agenda setting research that have been developing since the 1990s. One group of studies uses urban studies theories (as opposed to national public policy theory). The other group of studies is highly inspired by national-­level developments in agenda setting research, especially the work by John Kingdon and Baumgartner and Jones. The chapter reviews central contributions within these two groups of studies, including US and non-US local agenda setting research. The chapter concludes with a discussion of possible avenues for further development of the field of local government agenda setting research. One approach is where the research advantages of the local level of government are utilized to test general ideas and arguments about agenda setting, and the other is where agenda setting theories are adapted to provide a better understanding of the local level of policymaking.