Accountable Democratic Actors Opening Action Spaces through Local Networks - A Conceptual Discussion

In the contemporary governance setting of New Public Management and globalization the interplay of actors as and structures in policy making are challenged in several ways. The increased interest in political entrepreneurship can be seen as a response to this, but there are both analytical and practical implications of an extended conceptualization of policy entrepreneurship. There are demands for approaching the new roles of entrepreneurial actors, which here will be done by their localization, how they act to expand action spaces for themselves and other actors. Based in a structure-actor perspective this paper will focus on four analytical dimensions combining policy analytical theories and time-geographical perspectives. The aim of the proposed paper is to contribute to the conceptualization of policy entrepreneurship from a time-spatial ontology by: a) indicating the anchoring of policy entrepreneurs in policy networks, b) indicating the localization of policy entrepreneurial, since their competences are indeed contexualized, c) modeling on their expansion of time-space prisms of opportunities for themselves and other actors, d) discussing the implications on accountability when policy entrepreneurs act locally in networks to expand action spaces. There is an analytical progress in these dimensions of policy entrepreneurship. Even if taking off from and referring to several case studies of policy entrepreneurs, mainly in local settings, the contribution of this paper is the conceptualization of meanings and analytical implications. The conclusions of the paper will provide analytical models for case studies as well as provide tools and ideas for policy entrepreneurs and structural changes of policy making. If the policy entrepreneurs are here to stay we have to get to know them and no longer consider them as anomalies in the policy process.