In Defense of Pluralism
Policy Disagreement and its Media Coverage

Providing an empirically grounded perspective on policy disagreements, Éric Montpetit highlights significant distortions in the media coverage of policy-making.

Éric Montpetit (Author)

9781316615768, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 15 April 2016

220 pages, 13 b/w illus.
23 x 15.3 x 1.3 cm, 0.33 kg

'In Defense of Pluralism cuts against the grain of many popular and scholarly accounts by showing how policy actors in North America and Europe have a much more nuanced set of beliefs about genetically engineered foods and stem cell research than media coverage of these controversies would lead us to believe. Montpetit shows that disagreement over contentious issues does not undermine policy actors' ability to address pressing, complex problems. The quality of the research in this book is truly impressive, and its findings are presented in a highly accessible style that will appeal to a broad range of readers.' Adam Sheingate, The Johns Hopkins University

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.

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.

Subject Areas: Political structures: democracy [JPHV], Political science & theory [JPA]