A threat-centered theory of policy entrepreneurship

Abstract

We know relatively little about the conditions that encourage people to jump into the political fray as policy entrepreneurs, advocates who devote substantial time, energy, and resources to campaigning for a policy goal. This paper aims to fill that gap by investigating the catalysts of policy entrepreneurship in municipalities across the State of New York, where between 2008 and 2012, hundreds of local jurisdictions passed measures opposing or supporting high-volume hydraulic fracturing (fracking). These local policy actions were often enthusiastically encouraged and, in some cases, vociferously opposed, by enterprising advocates. I propose a threat-centered theory of policy entrepreneurship, emphasizing the role of loss aversion in pushing actors toward advocacy. The empirical analysis shows that oppositional advocacy within a polity draws would-be policy entrepreneurs into battle.

Policy entrepreneurs and individuals: Influence and behavior in pandemic response

“…Identifying policy entrepreneurs based on their role or position can be challenging because they can come from anywhere, inside or outside government, in elected or appointed positions, in interest groups or research teams (Kingdon, 2011). They have various motivations for investing in policy entrepreneurship, such as the potential to gain resources or avert threats to their deeply held beliefs (Arnold, 2022). Thus, policy entrepreneurs are often identified based on how often they make public statements and appearances on a policy issue (Cook & Rinfret, 2013) with the goal of advancing a policy issue on the agenda.…”

Energy efficiency, housing, and economic policy

“…One of them are so-called change agents, which can be conceptualized as different types of individual policy actors. Besides the notion of policy entrepreneurs, which is commonly referred to in public policy research (Arnold, 2022;Harvey-Scholes et al, 2022;Petridou et al, 2021;Tang & He, 2023;Taylor et al, 2023), Liefferink and Wurzel (2017) have introduced the concepts of leaders and pioneers. In this EPA issue, Watanabe (2023) provides an in-depth analysis of wind energy policy-making within the context of the German energy transition ("Energiewende").…”

“…除了欧盟和其他超国家及国家组织外，其他类型的行动者可能与能源和环境政策密切相关。其中之一则是所谓的变革推动者，后者能被概念化为不同类型的个人政策行动者。除了公共政策研究中经常提到的政策企业家的概念 (Arnold, 2022; Harvey‐Scholes et al, 2022; Petridou et al, 2021; Tang & He, 2023; Taylor et al, 2023)，Liefferink and Wurzel (2017) 引入了领导者和先驱者的概念。本期中，Watanabe(2023)对德国能源转型(“Energiewende”)情境下的风能决策进行了深度分析。具体而言，文章分析了石勒苏益格‐荷尔斯泰因州在联邦政策过程中的作用，该州已从联盟否决者转变为先驱者，并对“案例中关于不同类型的变革推动者的概念区别的实证解释”作贡献。这些变革推动者设法获得影响力并对利益集团的阻碍采取行动。与此相反，德国的住房政策问题仍然是一个冲突问题，该冲突存在于以该产业为主体的不同利益集团之间。正如Slavici(2023)所表明的，尽管为残疾人和老年人提供住房一事面临着严峻的挑战，但由于相关游说人士的政治影响力较弱，这些问题仍然存在。…”

“…Uno de ellos son los llamados agentes de cambio, que pueden conceptualizarse como diferentes tipos de actores políticos individuales. Además de la noción de empresarios de políticas, a la que comúnmente se hace referencia en la investigación de políticas públicas (Arnold, 2022; Harvey‐Scholes et al, 2022; Petridou et al, 2021; Tang & He, 2023; Taylor et al, 2023), Liefferink y Wurzel (2017) ha introducido los conceptos de líderes y pioneros. En este número de la EPA, Watanabe (2023) proporciona un análisis en profundidad de la formulación de políticas de energía eólica en el contexto de la transición energética alemana (“Energiewende”).…”

Hydraulic fracturing, polarization, and environmental policy implementation

“…Hydraulic fracturing—being a highly conflictual environmental policy issue—receives much attention in the scholarly literature on public policy (Arnold, 2022; Ingold et al, 2016; Lits, 2020). The RPR itself has published a virtual special issue on this topic in the past (The Policy and Politics of Fracking).…”