The role of policy entrepreneurs in defining directions of innovation policy: A case study of automated driving in the Netherlands (original) (raw)

Translating ideas into action: The policy entrepreneur role at the public policy process

XXII World Congress of Political Science International Political Science Association - IPSA - Madrid, July 8-12, 2012 Over the last decades, research in policy formulation, especially agenda-setting studies, has shown that the action of individuals (or groups) named “policy entrepreneurs” constitutes a central aspect of the public policy process. The agenda-setting theoretical models (John Kingdon’s multiple streams model, Baumgartner and Jones’s punctuated equilibrium model) picture those individuals from different perspectives, stressing different features of their role in the policy process. Both models consider the policy entrepreneur as an essential actor in their explanations on policy maintenance or change. This paper aims at presenting and discussing the centrality of policy entrepreneurs in agenda-setting models, analyzing this important actor, as well as the limits and contributions of this conceptualization for the policy process understanding.

From policy entrepreneurs to policy entrepreneurship: actors and actions in public policy innovation

Policy & Politics, 2020

Policy entrepreneurs are considered key actors in public policy. However, there are so many definitions of what they can do that it is difficult to use this concept in a systematic, analytical way. Starting with a critique of the tendency to overstretch the concept of the policy entrepreneur, we propose a more parsimonious conceptualisation by de-personalising entrepreneurial actions and by focusing on a specific pattern of action whose main task is to promote innovation. Thus, policy entrepreneurship is conceptualised as a pattern of action (involving different types of actors) focused on innovation promotion that is pursued by activities such as framing a problem, developing solutions, building a coalition in support, and seeking opportunities and attention. We also highlight prevalent resources for those activities. We then apply this conceptualisation to two cases of urban planning in Italy to discuss the activities of successful policy entrepreneurship as a collective effort.

Agents of Policy Change? Proposing a pragmatic review and test of policy entrepreneurship

What role do individual agents play in the policy process? Theories of the policy process either specify or leave room for a special class of individuals that drive the policy process. These individuals are often vaguely described as policy entrepreneurs. This paper uses pragmatist method to examine the claims of scholars about what policy entrepreneurs do—what actions they take, as opposed to their characteristics or positions. Using immigration enforcement law in the US states in the 2010s as a case, the paper lays out a plan for using interview-based process tracing and network analysis of news media to test scholars' claims against the actions of political actors viewed as instrumental to passing or blocking those laws. Such a study would explore (1) who took actions that determined policy outcomes; (2) which theories of public entrepreneurship prove most predictive of that behavior; and (3) whether public entrepreneurship is the most useful metaphor for describing those actions. This paper aims to contribute to conversations about the role of individual agency in the policy process.