Skip to main content
Book cover

Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance pp 1–7Cite as

Policy Entrepreneurs as Bureaucrats, Merging Formality and Informality

  • 37 Accesses

Synonyms

Turning entrepreneurial behavior into formal bureaucrat positions

Definitions

Policy entrepreneurs refer to actors in the public sector organization advocating for proposals or ideas. Bureaucrats refer to the Weberian ideal of neutral public administrators. Here, merging formality and informality in this setting refers to the establishment of formal positions in the public sector organization on which the employed administrators have the task of acting as a policy entrepreneur.

Introduction

Currently, when complex boundary spanning challenges such as sustainability, resilience, and social inclusion are at the table, the actors working for policy change have rendered more attention. These actors are often referred to as “policy entrepreneurs.” This entry presents a specific version of the policy entrepreneur, namely, the policy entrepreneur who is employed as public administrator or bureaucrat in the political-administration with the task to promote, coordinate, and integrate...

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

References

  • Aukes E, Lulofs K, Bressers H (2017) Framing mechanisms: the interpretative policy entrepreneur’s toolbox. Crit Policy Stud 12(4):406–427

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Cejudo GM, Michel CL (2017) Addressing fragmented government action: coordination, coherence, and integration. Policy Sci 50(4):745–767

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Hrelja R, Jason M, Tom R, Isaksson K, Scholten C (2017) The interplay of formal and informal institutions between local and regional authorities when creating well-functioning public transport systems. Int J Sustain Transp 11(8):611–622

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Kingdon JW (1984/2003) Agendas, alternatives and public policies. Longman Classics in Political Science, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Kornberger M (2012) Governing the city: from planning to urban strategy. Theory Cult Soc 29:84–106

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Lundquist L (2011) Flocken i massamhället. Denpolitiska ordningens villkor och uttryck. Arkiv Förlag, Lund

    Google Scholar 

  • Mintrom M, Norman P (2009) Policy entrepreneurship and policy change. Policy Stud J 37(4):649–667

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Misztal B (2005) The new importance of the relationship between formality and informality. Fem Theory 6(2):173–194

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Morand DA (1995) The role of formality and informality in the enactment of bureaucratic versus organic organizations. Acad Manag Rev 20(4):831–872

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Olausson A, Svensson P (2019) Understanding political entrepreneurship in local government administration. Lex localis J Local Self Govern 7(3):643–658

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Rittel HWJ, Webber MM (1973) Dilemmas in a general theory of planning. In: Policy sciences, vol 4, pp 153–169

    Google Scholar 

  • Stoker G (2006) Public value management. A new narrative for networked governance? Am Rev Public Adm 36(1):41–57

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Stout M (2013) Logics of legitimacy. Three traditions of public administration praxis. CRC Press, Boca Raton

    Google Scholar 

  • Svensson P (2017) Cross-sector strategists. Dedicated bureaucrats in local government administration. Dissertation, School of Public Administration, University of Gothenburg

    Google Scholar 

  • Svensson P (2019a) Formalized policy entrepreneurship as a governance tool for policy integration. Int J Public Adm 42(14):1212–1221

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Svensson P (2019b) Att skapa helhet i offentlig sektor. Nordic Academic Press, Lund

    Google Scholar 

  • Weber EP, Khademian AM (2008) Wicked problems, knowledge challenges, and collaborative capacity builders in network settings. Public Adm Rev 68:334–349

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Halmstad University, Halmstad, Sweden

    Petra Svensson

Authors
  1. Petra Svensson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Petra Svensson .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, USA

    Ali Farazmand

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Svensson, P. (2020). Policy Entrepreneurs as Bureaucrats, Merging Formality and Informality. In: Farazmand, A. (eds) Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_4026-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_4026-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-31816-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-31816-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social Sciences