Abstract
Despite the fact that we currently witness an increasing interest in the study of the role of agency in policy dynamics, it remains in many respects a puzzle how policy change can be explained, let alone directed. This paper focusses intently on the concept, incidence, and strategic behaviour of policy entrepreneurs. By elucidating their strategic modus operandi, we aim to contribute to a better understanding of the strategies that individual change agents employ in their efforts to effect policy change, as well as to examine their contextual effectiveness. In addition to new data on the incidence and profile of policy entrepreneurs and the (contextual) conditions relating to the selection of strategies, this paper presents a novel typology of entrepreneurial strategies, linking these to circumstances under which they can be effective. Our paper concludes with a discussion on how our findings relate to the main theories of policy change, and what they mean for the larger democratic questions about accountability and legitimacy.
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Notes
In this study we are primarily interested in the process of what happens after a policy entrepreneur sees an opportunity for change. Therefore, and unlike Roberts and King (1991), Huitema and Meijerink (2009), and Taylor et al. (2011), we do not consider the generation or development of new ideas as an entrepreneurial strategy.
When contrasting these percentages with the percentage of women in the total workforce of local water management organizations in the Netherlands it becomes apparent that the percentage of female policy entrepreneurs is not only absolutely, but also relatively low.
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We thank Springer International Publishing who have kindly given permission for the use of material from Brouwer (2015), Policy Entrepreneurs in Water Governance: Strategies for Change.
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Brouwer, S., Huitema, D. Policy entrepreneurs and strategies for change. Reg Environ Change 18, 1259–1272 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-017-1139-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-017-1139-z