Theorizing reactive policy entrepreneurship: A case study of Swedish local emergency management

Abstract

AbstractIn this article, we examine public policy change at the local level of governance in the aftermath of an extraordinary event. Using the case study of a Swedish municipality after the sweeping forest fire of 2014, we contend that policy entrepreneurship, like its market counterpart, may under certain conditions take on a wider range of behaviors that are not underpinned by the proactive quest for opportunities. Rather, a sense of urgency and necessity, professional norms, and some keen technical skills make for a different kind of entrepreneurship, which we label reactive policy entrepreneurship.