Entrepreneurial activities in policy implementation: Sweden\u2019s national wind coordinators

Abstract

A growing body of literature focuses on how the context in which policy entrepreneurs operate shapes their actions. This study contributes to this perspective by focusing on the regional implementation of wind turbines for increasing renewable energy levels in Sweden. Sweden introduced national wind coordinators for facilitating wind energy implementation. In this capacity, the coordinators carry out entrepreneurial strategies in form of moving the policy through the administrative agenda at local level and pursuing the implementation process together with municipal stakeholders. The study shows that over time, wind coordinators were able to move beyond the government-defined activities and widen the scope of their actions. The analysis offers insights into the temporal dimension of regional entrepreneurial activities by mapping activities from 2006 to 2016. The case reveals that a flexible policy framework and more in-depth knowledge into regional struggles through mediating and networking enable the identification of potential local bottlenecks and lobbying for legal changes by entrepreneurs.