Why does the European Union deal with some issues but not with others? Answering this question is crucial if we are to understand how the EU makes policies and what kind of political system the EU is. This book engages with the processes that shape the EU's political agenda through a systematic analysis of EU agendas in the fields of environmental and health policy. Applying an innovative methodology to trace the attention for issues in policy documents, it analyzes the development of EU agendas over the past three decades and compares them with agendas in the United States. In addition, it offers a theoretically grounded and empirically rich account of the processes that drive the formation of policy agendas in the EU through the in-depth analysis of four case studies. Presenting original research in an accessible format, it will be of interest to scholars as well as advanced undergraduate and graduate students in the fields of European integration and policy studies.


Studying Policy Agendas in the EU
Understanding Agenda-Setting Dynamics
Assessing Agendas and Agenda Dynamics
The Evolution of EU Policy Agendas in Comparative Perspective
Starting from Scratch: Moving New Issues onto the EU Agenda
A Bridge too Far? The Limits of EU Agenda Expansion
Changing the Tune:
Reflections on EU Agenda-Setting

SEBASTIAAN PRINCEN is Associate Professor in the School of Governance, Utrecht University, The Netherlands. He holds an MA in public administration and public policy studies from the University of Twente and a PhD from Utrecht University. His research interests focus on policy-making processes in the European Union and other international organizations.