Entrepreneurship in the Polis

The body of literature on entrepreneurship in political science, political economy and public administration has been steadily increasing, with the concept of political entrepreneurship gaining ever-increasing momentum. The broader conceptualization of the political and the spillovers between the public and the private which underscore the governance discourse demand now, more than ever before, a closer look at political entrepreneurship in terms of its nature, contextualization, and as it relates to change, including change in policy, organizational arrangements, institutional rules and ultimately, structures. In this volume, as is reflected in the book title, the editors make the conscious choice to use 'political' as the umbrella modifier for all entrepreneurship which takes place in the polis. The editors and contributors fill a lacuna in the political science literature by conceptually enhancing the term 'political entrepreneurship' through development of a theoretical framework juxtaposed with empirical work. They collectively test and advance theoretical assumptions about the emergence and implementation of entrepreneurial action in the polis and explore the role of political contexts and structures as to whether and how they inform political entrepreneurial action. Political entrepreneurship is used as one of several possible analytical tools to understand policy change and is explored as a variety of outcomes of entrepreneurial actions and strategies political entrepreneurs use to achieve their goals. This underexplored concept will serve the needs of upper level undergraduate students, graduate students and faculty of political science, policy studies, public administration as well as planning students and practitioners.