Distinguishing the street-level policy entrepreneur

Policy entrepreneurs-individuals who champion a policy and engage in intense advocacy to secure it-are most frequently characterized as political elites or individuals well connected to such elites. However, an emerging literature suggests that street-level bureaucrats who deliver government services to the public can also prosecute policy entrepreneurship. There has been little investigation of how these actors differ from elite-level policy entrepreneurs who focus on agenda-setting and initial policy approval. Evidence from six case vignettes from US state wetland policy suggest that street-level policy entrepreneurs are distinguished by defensive motivation, greater constancy of effort, recruitment of a less politically powerful network of supporters, and challenges associated with cultivating ties to external resource providers and intra-governmental allies. Street-level policy entrepreneurship helps explain policy innovation within bureaucracies and by bureaucrats, offering new insight into the motivation and behaviours of ground-level officials whose day-to-day choices shape policy.