Policy Entrepreneurship and Regional Development

The scholarly regional governance debate usually divides actors into two categories: state actors, representing the public domain and politics, and non-state actors, representing the economy and civil society. However, these categories are based on the functional context and not on the actual behaviour patterns of the actors. Also, this dichotomy fails to explain why actors contribute differently to regional development processes. In analysing the design and implementation phases of regional development strategies, we observe that some of the involved actors show entrepreneurial behaviour. We understand these actors as governance entrepreneurs. Based on their behaviour, we differentiate between two new categories: realising and enabling governance entrepreneurs. Realising governance entrepreneurs contribute to regional development processes through creativity and innovation, alertness to opportunities and a willingness to invest personal resources and take risks. Enabling governance entrepreneurs contribute through a large network, persistence in negotiation and the capacity to operate across various government levels and economic sectors. The findings are based on 33 in-depth expert interviews across six rural and peripheral regions in Switzerland where two National Development Policies are applied to strengthen regional development processes.