How politicians survive information overload
Elite politicians live in an “information maelstrom,” Stefaan Walgrave and Yves Dejaeghere observe in a new article for Governance. How do they decide select the information they pay attention to? Walgrave and Dejaeghere draw on interviews with top Belgian politicians, including all party leaders. They describe three general strategies that are used by politicians to manage overload: organizational procedures designed to shield them against raw information; personal heuristics to sort out what really matters; and an attitude of self-confidence that “at least makes them feel in charge of the incoming signals.” Read the article.
