The Complexities of Political Agenda Determination: The Case of the British Coal Industry

The coal industry has provided for huge controversy since the 1970s. Much of it has focused on contraction and attempts to stop that. This article examines the efforts of two pressure groups—the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the Coalfield Communities Campaign (CCC)—seeking to manipulate the political agenda in their own favor. It examines why the two groups, though both trying to affect issues on the political agenda to meet aspirations in coalfields, met a different response. It also examines why and how the CCC was able to achieve more success at political agenda manipulation at the European, rather than the national, level.