Short-shrifted Priorities. Youth on the Government Agenda in Spain (1982-1996)

Abstract

In recent years, growing evidence has shown that welfare policies tend to
favour the collective interests of elderly people at the expense of the new
needs of groups that are entering adulthood. Studies conducted in several
countries have found a growing gap between social spending amounts
devoted to both groups. However, there has been considerably less
research on the political processes leading to these outcomes. In this
article we draw on the Spanish case to analyze how the dynamics of
political agenda setting remains unresponsive to the interests and
demands of young groups. We examine how cognitive maps, electoral
incentives and political entrepreneurship impinged on decision-making
processes during the fi rst four mandates of the socialist party (1982-1996).