“Jones and Baumgartner have become a genre, the leading scholars of a science of policymaking. This is a major scholarly achievement.”--James Stimson, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

James Stimson

“The Politics of Attention moves the classic debate over the character and value of democratic politics to new and more solid ground. In recognizing that political elites are subject to limited attention spans and constrained information-processing, just as are mass citizens, Jones and Baumgartner argue that the great attraction of representative democracy is the way in which it corrects for the limitations of both elites and mass electorates. With these arguments and supportive data, this pioneering book provides perhaps the most persuasive explanation yet of the adaptive resilience of pluralist democracies. The result is a landmark contribution to research on elite decision-making, to the study of policy evolution in postwar America, and to democratic theory.”--Lawrence C. Dodd, University of Florida

Lawrence C. Dodd

“A terrific book. Based on a decade of meticulous data collection, The Politics of Attention descriptively presents a macroscopic overview of fifty years of American policy development in congressional agenda formation and decision making. The payoff of this impressive empirical exercise is a fresh focus on and understanding of policy punctuations.”--John Padgett, University of Chicago

John Padgett

"An important and timely work."

M. C. Price, Texas A&M University | Choice

"This excellent book provides an enlightening glimpse into and important topic: how information is used in politics and how it is prioritised. . . . It is provocative, challenging and insightful, making a valuable contribution to politics and constitutional law."

Ya-Hui Kuo | Significance

"The book illustrates the continuing development of the punctuated equilibrium model of policy change and the diversity of issues that the model provides leverage in explaining."

Scott E. Robinson | Political Science Quarterly

"Without a doubt, this book will be very useful in graduate seminars. It touches on many of the biggest ideas in social science, ranging from theories of individual behavior and rationality, to ’middle level’ phenomena like political organizations, to the highest level, institutions and policy change. It is also written beautifully."

Paul E. Johnson | Perspectives on Politics