ABSTRACT
This chapter presents several types of policy tools used by governments at the agenda-setting stage of the policy cycle. It explains Christopher Hood's taxonomy of available toolsets of resources available to governments by identifying examples of agenda-setting tools available to governments. Hood presented a toolset that governments use to govern which he called the NATO scheme and argued that governments tend to possess four basic resources by virtue of being government: nodality, authority, treasure and organization. Scenario planning has become an important agenda-setting tool in recent years. Given the uncertainties of public policymaking, it has the potential to prepare and better manage complex decisions and spot early warning signals about future problems. At the agenda-setting phase, future forecasting and strategic foresight can also be used to inform policy by enhancing the knowledge base for thinking about and designing policies and can even help in identifying current policy gaps.
