Agenda‐setting in the European community

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Abstract
All political systems must have a means of deciding which issues to consider and which should be left alone. Further, governments must decide what particular conception of the policy they will consider, given that there are often several alternatives. The European Community is no different but has a number of characteristics that influence the manner in which agenda‐setting occurs. The fundamental argument of this paper is that these characteristics permit the EC to consider a wider range of policies and policy alternatives than might an individual nation state. The principal factors discussed are the fragmentation of the policy‐making system, the presence of a number of influential policy advocates, and the availability of a range of alternatives from member nations. This apparent ability to search for superior alternatives is in contrast to negative characterizations of the implementation in the EC.