Taking the Lead: Congressional Foreign Policy Entrepreneurs in U.S. Foreign Policy

Abstract

This article examines the characteristics of individual members of Congress who become “foreign policy entrepreneurs.” Rather than simply responding to an administration's foreign policy requests, such legislators try to lead Congress by initiating action on the foreign policy issues they care about rather than awaiting administration action. This study examines foreign policy entrepreneurs across a number of factors, including the parties to which they belong, the chambers in which they serve, the various legislative access points they employ, and the different legislative tactics they use. Also examined are the changes in such patterns over time. We test hypotheses about the characteristics and behavior of entrepreneurs using a data set of 2,621 instances of entrepreneurial behavior across the post‐World War II period. We conclude that congressional foreign policy entrepreneurs are increasingly salient players in the foreign policy process and are driven by policy disagreements and partisan calculations.