To explain processes of policy change the role and characteristics of „policy entrepreneurs“ as special actor-type and “agents of change” are discussed for some time now. Policy entrepreneurs can be described as promotors who are able to develop policy ideas and actively try to realise these policy ideas in the policy process. This contribution wants to show that the policy entrepreneur-approach is fruitful to analyse processes of policy change and wants to demonstrate against the background of regional governance processes in rural areas, which role policy entrepreneurs play in the policy process. In a first step I want to deliver some theoretical arguments on the conceptualization, the characteristics, and the relevance of the actor-type “policy entrepreneur”. These arguments are based on Schumpeter’s understanding of entrepreneurship for radical change as well as on arguments of the literature on policy change and policy entrepreneurship (J.Q. Wilson, Nancy C. Roberts, J. Kingdon, M. Mintrom, etc.). Subsequently I want to demonstrate that such a theoretical approach is fruitful for a better understanding of how processes of policy change are initiated and realized. The existence and different functions of policy entrepreneurs in processes of regional governance for rural development will be highlighted. It can be shown that in regions where such governance processes have been initiated such actors are very important as “visionists” especially in the beginning of these processes. As well these actors serve as interfaces between different levels of mulit-level-governance since they spread information from higher state levels to the regional level and vice versa. The work I present in this paper is based on different research projects on regional governance programmes in Germany. Methodologically the work is based on various interviews with regional actors, participant observations of meetings of regional partnerships and analyses of different policy-relevant documents.
