Dynamics of policymaking : stepping back to leap forward, stepping forward to keep back

We study dynamic policy-making when: today's policy agreement becomes tomorrow's status quo; agents account for the consequences of today's policies for future policy outcomes; and there is uncertainty about who will hold future political power to propose and veto future policy changes. Today's agenda-setter holds back from fully exploiting present opportunities to move policy toward her ideal point whenever future proposer and veto players are likely to be aligned either in favor of reform, or against it. Otherwise, agenda-setters advance their short-run interests. Optimal proposals can vary discontinuously and non-monotonically with political fundamentals