When a Stone Breaks the Surface: The Mechanism of Focusing Events in Triggering Response-Oriented Agenda Setting

Abstract

During the economic and social growth transition, the Chinese government must promptly address and resolve various significant and unexpected so­cial challenges, prioritizing social matters and estab­lishing a response-oriented agenda-setting model. A qualitative comparative analysis method was employed within the response-oriented agenda-set­ting triggering framework, incorporating aspects of advocacy coalition theory. This analysis utilized 45 focusing events from 2018 to 2023 to delineate four response-oriented agenda-setting triggering modes: clear-pointing, government-society interac­tion, event-triggered, and composite mode. Diverse focusing events initiated internal oscillations within the policy subsystem, while high-level government attention allocation prioritized events on the policy agenda, resulting in interactions between primary and secondary coalitions and response-oriented agenda setting influenced by policy learning.