Non‐policy making
The case of comprehensive immigration reform, 2005–2006
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12782897 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Devin Fernandes (0000-0001-7949-1161, California State University, Chico, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 43 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Publication date | 2024-10-04 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Review of Policy Research (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1541-132X • E-ISSN: 1541-1338 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/ropr.12632 |
| OpenAlex | W4403139906 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 29 |
Immigration policy reached the fore of the political agenda during the 109th Congress of 2005–2006, achieving near‐record levels of congressional committee attention. Literature on agenda setting typically portrays such attention spikes as evidence that the inertial forces of a status quo policy regime are losing the ability to keep the issue off the political agenda. Change may not necessarily follow, but from this perspective, opponents to change are in a vulnerable position. Yet, as this paper shows, opponents of immigration reform were the ones driving the flurry of committee activity. By demonstrating that opponents of policy change wielding agenda control can also leverage attention as a means of obstruction, the paper identifies a potential limit to using certain attention indicators as evidence of policy momentum. In the second part of the paper, I hypothesize conditions under which status quo defenders in Congress might abandon their negative agenda power. I argue that it is most likely when policy entrepreneurs elevate an issue with two or more unstable policy images that divide the majority party. The findings here offer further evidence of the congressional committee system's declining role in policy development and the intractability of immigration reform
Development economics · Economics · Immigration · Immigration policy · Immigration reform · Policy making · Political science · Law · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Public Administration · Social Policy and Reform Studies
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Agendas and Instability in American Politics, Second Edition
Legislating in the Dark
Theories of the Policy Process
Agendas, alternatives, and public policies
Agenda Setting, Policies, and Political Systems
The Republican Party and Immigration Politics
Grassroots for Hire
Immigration Reform
The Deinstitutionalization (?) of the House of Representatives
Congress Overwhelmed
Immigration and the election of Donald Trump
Issue Politics in a Polarized Congress
Pet Sounds
Tobacco's Tipping Point
The Politics of Attention
Punctuating Which Equilibrium? Understanding Thermostatic Policy Dynamics in Pacific Northwest Forestry
Two Faces of Power
Can Comprehensive Immigration Reform Be Both Liberal and Democratic
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |