How Different Aspects of the Community, Government, and Media Brought Florida House Bill 0991 onto the Docket According to Streams by John Kingdon

How Different Aspects of the Community, Government, and Media Brought Florida House Bill 0991 onto the Docket According to Streams by John Kingdon

In the past few decades political scientists have been looking at ways to categorize different patterns which have emerged during their in depth study on why certain issues shoulder their way onto the calendar, and why others are left in the trashcan. John Kindogon is one such political scientist, his perceptive on agenda formation suggests that there are interactions between three “streams” of society: Problem stream, Policy stream and Political stream. His model proposes that these individual streams intersect through what he calls policy windows, opportunities for advocates to push attention towards their problem. From the clever usage of these streams policies are able to become passable legislation. This paper will use Kingdon’s “Streams” model to explain how different aspects of the community, government and media brought Florida House Bill 0991 onto the docket. In order to better comprehend Kingdon’s theories of agenda setting and their correlation to the proposal of Florida House Bill 0991, the basic model of policy formation must be explained; a general sketch of this model is: Private problem à Public Problem à Makes the Agenda à Formulation à Adoption à Budgeting à Implementation à Evaluation à Termination.

A private problem, which only affects a small percentage of people, arises. This problem can exists between two private groups or between government and a private group of citizens. Through the use of a catalyst, like the media or interest groups, more people become aware that this specific problem exists and might one day affect their everyday lives. Thus, the p...

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...sions simply because they came of age under a new set of circumstances and issues. Agenda setting is a way of striving to amend the problems of the day. As one can see there are several ways in which the agenda can be set, ranging from external indicators like the media, interest groups, and entrepreneurs, legislative support, and the need for policy in the given area. The more external support a concern has outside of government, the more likely it is to make its way onto the agenda. Problems, like Stuart Enterprise buying Surety bonds, rise quickly to governmental agendas for there happens to be strong base support from interest groups, the media, and legislative officials. Though most of Kingdom’s streams work independently of each other, there are times when they come together through policy windows and make an issue move fast through the entire policy process.