The domestication of a “wild” problem: taming policy agenda setting

Philippe Zittoun (1)

1 LAET - Laboratoire Aménagement Économie Transports

This chapter focuses on the definitional process through which some policy entrepreneurs redefine and transform “untreatable public problems” into “treatable problems” with which they can associate their own solutions. This can be viewed as a taming process, which transforms a “wild” public problem that provokes political disorder into a “domesticated” one that allows the reordering of the situation and the legitimization of government. To grasp this process, we first present the main characteristics of the definitional process that creates “wild” problems. Second, we analyze the ambiguities between problems and solutions in the agenda concept. Finally, we examine the taming activities that contribute to transforming wild problems into domesticated ones for which solutions can be found and which decision-makers can then tackle.

Mots clés: Public problems; Public policy; Process

Domaines: Economies et finances; Science politique

Philippe Zittoun. The domestication of a “wild” problem: taming policy agenda setting. Nikolaos Zahariadis. Handbook of Public Policy Agenda Setting, Edward Elgar Publishing, pp.254-272, 2016, Handbooks of research on public policy, ISBN 978-1-78471-591-5 / eISBN 9781784715922. ⟨10.4337/9781784715922.00023⟩. ⟨halshs-03844475⟩