Mapping policy agents: policy entrepreneurs, advocacy coalitions, epistemic communities and instrument constituencies

Abstract

Public policy research prominently features the study of the individual and collective agents that populate the various moments of the policy process across different policy subsystems. This chapter maps the role of these policy agents within the policy process by addressing several questions. In the first part, we ask who are these policy actors and how are they involved in power relations. In a second part, we focus on specific actor conceptualizations (i.e. policy entrepreneurs, advocacy coalitions, epistemic communities, instrument constituencies). We review these concepts, including their empirical applications, and the limitations to their use. Finally, in the last part, we take a step back to formulate a research agenda on policy agents.