In defense of pluralism : policy disagreement and its media coverage / Éric Montpetit, Université de Montréal.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Montpetit, Éric, author.

Series:

Cambridge studies in comparative public policy

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Political planning.

Decision making.

Press and politics.

Mass media--Political aspects.

Mass media.

Biotechnology--Government policy--Europe.

Biotechnology.

Biotechnology--Government policy--North America.

Pluralism--Political aspects.

Pluralism.

Biotechnology--Government policy.

North America.

Europe.

Physical Description:

xii, 206 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, United Kingdom : Cambridge University Press, 2016.

Summary:

"The work of early pluralist thinkers, from Arthur Bentley to Robert Dahl, inspired much optimism about democracy. They argued that democracy was functioning well, despite disagreements arising among the diversity of interests represented in policy-making processes. Yet it is unlikely that anyone paying attention to news coverage today would share such optimism. The media portray current policy-making processes as intractably polarized, devoid of any opportunity to move forward and adopt essential policy changes. This book aims to revive our long-lost sense of optimism about policy-making and democracy. Through original research into biotechnology policy-making in North America and Europe, Éric Montpetit shows that the depiction of policy-making offered by early pluralist thinkers is not so far off the present reality. Today's policy decision-making process - complete with disagreement among the participants - is consistent with what might be expected in a pluralist society, in sharp contrast with the negative image projected by the media"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: 1. Introduction: shouts, shoes, and insults; 2. Disagreement and tone in the media; 3. Frames, metaphors and disagreement in the media; 4. Measuring disagreement among policy actors; 5. Do contentious actors stall policy?; 6. Who disagrees with whom and why?; 7. Appreciating the pluralist politics of policy-making; Appendix.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781107146785

110714678X

9781316615768

1316615766

OCLC:

933596264

Online:

Cover image