Policy Entrepreneurs, Crises, and Policy Change

This Element links policy entrepreneurial action with various crises, specifying policy outcomes based on the combination of the two.

Evangelia Petridou (Author), Jörgen Sparf (Author), Nikolaos Zahariadis (Author), Thomas Birkland (Author)

9781009565202, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 16 January 2025

88 pages
23.5 x 16 x 0.9 cm, 0.276 kg

Increasingly, policymaking takes place while extraordinary events threaten fundamental societal values. During turbulent times, policy entrepreneurs emerge as pivotal figures. They are energetic actors who pursue dynamic change in public policy and, whereas we know much about how they promote innovation and change in normal policymaking, we know less about how they behave in crises, and even less about how different crises influence policy entrepreneurial action. This Element focuses on interaction between policy entrepreneurs and crises. It analyzes policy entrepreneurial action in six case studies – three fast-burning and three creeping crises – to ascertain policy entrepreneurs' strategies and effectiveness during extraordinary events. It proposes crisis policy entrepreneurial strategies, a framework to understand outcomes based on policy entrepreneurial action and type of crisis and suggests avenues for further research on policy entrepreneurs and crises, including implications for crisis managers. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

1. Policy entrepreneurs in a crisis context
2. Business as unusual? Crises as a policy context for policy entrepreneurial action
3. Policy entrepreneurs and policy outcomes in fast-burning crises
4. Policy entrepreneurs and policy outcomes in creeping crises
5. The politics of crisis policy entrepreneurship and a research agenda
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Political economy [KCP]