Policy Entrepreneurs as Agents of Change

Abstract

The capability and understanding of how to effect policy change is becoming increasingly important in view of global social and environmental challenges. Given the amorphous and complex nature of policy change, however, in many respects it remains a puzzle how policy change can be explained, let alone how it can be effected. This chapter provides an introduction to ‘Policy Entrepreneurs in Water Governance’ which analyses policy-making processes at the micro-level, focusing on the behaviour of so-called policy entrepreneurs: highly talented and exceptional bureaucrats, who, just like their private counterparts, are constantly on the alert for new opportunities for policy change and have the capacity to “sell” and “market” new ideas. This chapter, “Policy entrepreneurs as agents of change”, explains that, while important progress has been made throughout the past few decades, there nonetheless remain important gaps in our knowledge on who these policy entrepreneurs are, and how and why they act to achieve their goals. After an introduction to the subject, and a description of this book’s focus and central questions, this chapter briefly explains how I generated the empirical evidence for this book: evidence which is based on a 4-year study, entailing more than 60 in-depth interviews, a focus group, and an extensive mail survey. The final section of this chapter explains the structure of the book.