ABSTRACT

At times, circumstances are such that it is neither puzzling nor questionable why officials would be preoccupied with a given predicament. That is, the perception of threat is so reflexive, the dimension of calamity so tangible and evident, no intermediation is necessary between social awareness of a problem, on the one hand, and government engagement, on the other. Yet issues of this type, which do not merely occupy space on the radar screen of government but command it, are exceptional. The broader class of misfortunes and ills in society do not receive automatic attention from public policy-makers. Rather, they must vie for standing within an appropriate institutional arena-legislative, administrative, or judicial-already busy with matters current and pending.