New Book on Policy Making and Crises

Along with Nikolaos Zahariadis and Thomas A. Birkland, Petridou and Sparf have authored Policy Entrepreneurs, Crises and Policy Change, published as part of the Cambridge Elements Public Policy series. The departure point of the monograph is that policymaking increasingly takes place in the shadow of crises. The authors examine how policy entrepreneurs act in order to make policy during, and in the aftermath of, crises and use six different crises as cases to illustrate this.

Being a policy entrepreneur is not a fixed trait. Individuals and organizations may act entrepreneurially in some instances, but not in others. Entrepreneurial action in public policy translates in innovative initiatives and eventual policy change. Policy entrepreneurs always strive towards a goal— they are consequential.

– Policy entrepreneurs apply many different strategies, explains Sparf.

– Policy entrepreneurial strategies range anywhere from someone who is an activist and trying to stir things up in the media to raise attention, to a quiet public servant working from the inside to change public policy.

In the book, the authors present a nuanced dimension of policy entrepreneurship in relation to crisis management. While policy entrepreneurs who traditionally have been associated with politics are alert to opportunities and strategically use events to introduce an innovative solution in the political agenda, the authors argue that policy entrepreneurship may take on a different form during extraordinary events that threaten our fundamental societal values.

– The classic policy entrepreneur is alert to opportunities. They already have a solution in mind, and they try to find a problem to attach that solution to, Petridou says.

She explains that this type of policy entrepreneur, the entrepreneur by opportunity, is especially common in politics. Politicians often have in mind policies they want to implement but need a problem to attach it to. An example of this can be politicians who want to restrict immigration, who then go on to identify problems in society that can be perceived as being caused or affected by immigration. They then highlight these perceived problems as reasons to implement their desired policy changes.

While entrepreneurs by opportunity are driven by their worked-out solution, societal crises or may act as pressure on (as well as an opportunity for) political actors to act entrepreneurially. The authors of the book label these innovators entrepreneurs by necessity.

– In this book we develop the idea of the reactive entrepreneur vis-à-vis the proactive entrepreneur. Whereas the proactive entrepreneur is alert to opportunities, the reactive entrepreneur acts out of necessity, because they are under pressure. This pressure may come from a crisis, or it may be political pressure, and finding a policy solution to a given problem, necessitates entrepreneurial action, Petridou explains.

In addition to proactive versus reactive entrepreneurship, the authors also use two different types of crises to further their argument: fast-burning crises, such as forest fires or sudden terrorist attacks and creeping crises, such as pandemics or political unrest building up over time. This continuum of crises, along with the continuum of different types of entrepreneurship form a two-by-two framework that illustrates how policymaking unfolds during different types of crises.

The book provides a theoretical framework to better understand how policy entrepreneurship in conjunction with different crises results in different kinds of policymaking decisions. This framework, in turn, may be utilized to learn more about crisis management and help policymakers and practitioners in the field to work in a more strategic fashion.

– It is a theoretical book, but with practical implications, Petridou says.

– We argue that innovation and strategic thinking in public policy may create solutions that solve societal problems. Policy entrepreneurs are not just a theoretical construct; there are traits that can be developed, skills that can be taught and strategies that can be improved.

Petridou and Sparf hope that the book can help public servants working with crisis management to better understand that entrepreneurship can be more than the traditional understanding of the term and use it to create and implement innovative solutions.

As part of the Cambridge Elements Public Policy series, Policy Entrepreneurs, Crises and Policy Change is an Open Access Publication, which means that the digital version of the book may be accessed and read at no charge.

On February 19^th NTNU Samfunnsforskning and the Gemini Centre CERCIS will be hosting a release event for Policy Entrepreneurs, Crises and Policy Change. At the event the authors will present the book, and there will be time for dicussion. Pizza will be served (vegetarian options will be provided). Anyone interested in issues related to risk, safety and security, resilient societies, and public policy making are welcome to attend. The event will take place at Habitat in Trondheim from 18:00 to 21:00, and the event will be held in English. The event is free to attend, but you need to register in order to attend.