Traditional chiefs as institutional entrepreneurs in policymaking and implementation in Africa

Abstract

There has been a growing literature on the role of actors in the policymaking and implementation process. This interest has led to the idea of policy or institutional entrepreneurs (IEs) as the push and pull of policymaking. IEs are individuals or a group of individuals who use their skills to build new sets of institutions that may work better or resist changes to existing ones. This chapter examines traditional chiefs as IEs in Africa due to their significant leverage in the policymaking and implementation processes. How can traditional rulers be considered as IEs? What sort of entrepreneurial skills do they display and use to undertake or resist institutional change in the development in Africa?