Identifying a social change problem is the first task in policy development.

Identifying a social change problem is the first task in policy development.

Agenda Setting

Identifying a social change problem is the first task in policy development. Agenda setting is the next step. The agenda setting process is to establish one or more problems, and then consider several policy solutions to the identified problem.

Based on your reading of Simon’s Public Policy text, Chapter 5, discuss how the process works to transform a social change problem into a proposed policy solution. In particular, emphasize the following:

1. Explain how issues are framed.
2. Identify who might be the major policy actor, given Simon’s Chapter 5 examples (choose one).
3. Choose and discuss the policy theory most relevant to the issue framed.