New Models of Governance in the Public Sector–Politics and Entrepreneurship

Abstract

There have been many global changes during the last decades, one of which is the growing European Union, and, above all, a new more global economy that practically all European countries have to cope with. It has sometimes been described as a transition from government to governance. The transition has affected the states but the change has also occurred all the way down to the regional and local level. These changes have affected local municipalities in many ways, the ongoing globalisation places the municipalities in a new position with new problems and possibilities and demands for new ways of action for the local politician (von Bergmann-Winberg 2001) Problems have emerged dure to international institutions' increasing importance, and due to changes in the national states, there is another tendency which has been called "hollowing out the state" and has lead to a focus upon the change from government to governance. The local institutions have been forced to react to changes and fluctuations in the international economy. (John, C. 2000) The structure of power is important since it is the structure that the various agents act within in the political arena. These agents have to adopt their ways of action in relation to this change in power structure, thus it has created new problems but also new possibilities. This raises a number of questions of how these transition has affected the role of political agents. By using the term "political entrepreneurship" it is possible to analyse, explain and understand how the structural changes have affected the agents' action arena. Some of the traits that are characteristic for the market entrepreneur can also be found among political entrepreneurs, while they differ a lot in other ways. The structure that the political entrepreneur acts within is very different from the corporate entrepreneur. The research about the latter has also tended to focus primarily upon profit as the central motive for entrepreneurial acts. Research about entrepreneurship is not new within political science, as some of the classical thinkers like Jeremy Bentham, Adam Smith and John Stuart Mill have written about entrepreneurship. (Landström, 2005) The term political entrepreneurship is not new but it is often used as a way of describing the agents that do not have direct access to the political arena but use entrepreneurial acts to be able to influence the political arena (see e.g. Yoffie, Bergenstein 1985). Political entrepreneurship as a term has been labelled for the first time by Robert Dahl (1961), in his Who Governs work, but since there is no single description of what a political entrepreneur is, which they are, or what they do, it calls for new research. This panel calls for paper aiming to contribute to further conceptualization of political entrepreneurship. There are many important questions to be answered: How does the structure affect political entrepreneurship and how does the political entrepreneur mould the structure? What does the concept of profit mean in relation to political entrepreneurs? Are there several existing types of political entrepreneurs, depending on the agents' position in the political arena, i.e. which are the agents with direct access to the political arena? Are they the ones elected by popular vote acting as political entrepreneurs as well as agents outside the political arena that try to affect the arena? What about the question of mandate and political accountability that has to be taken into consideration while dealing with political entrepreneurship?

Title	Details
Conceptualizing and Mapping Norm, Policy and Social Entrepreneurship: Potential and Significance of Individual Agency in International Relations	View Paper Details
Regional Autonomy by Political Entrepreneurship: A Comparative Study of the Nordic Island Regions	View Paper Details
How Policy Entrepreneurs set the Agenda for ''Nature Development'': A Dutch Case Study On Successful Strategies For Policy Change	View Paper Details
Theorising Political Entrepreneurship in Peripheral Areas	View Paper Details
Exploring Public Entrepreneurial Actions and their Legitimacy	View Paper Details
The Role of Policy Entrepreneurs in Regional Governance Processes	View Paper Details
The Cultural Context Dependency of the Peripheral Political Entrepreneur - How to play the game?	View Paper Details