Authors

Ulla Pape¹;  ¹ Freie Universität Berlin, Germany

Discussion

Policy Entrepreneurs in Authoritarian Policy-Making in Eurasia 

The concept of ‘policy entrepreneur’ was coined by John Kingdon in his book Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies (1984) and soon became a key term in policy research. Policy entrepreneurs are understood as ‘advocates who are willing to invest their resources – time, energy, reputation, money – to promote a position in return for anticipated future gain in the form of material, purposive, or solidary benefits’ (Kingdon, 2011). Central is that policy entrepreneurs strive to change policy and can draw on resources to do so. 

Although a large body of literature has evolved on policy entrepreneurs (Mintrom & Norman, 2009; Ross, 2016; Arnold 2021), most studies have focused on their role in democratic policy-making, while leaving the question understudied on how policy entrepreneurship works in authoritarian contexts. In contrast to democratic regimes, their role is often seen as limited, as policy processes in autocracies are often closed to external actors. On the other hand, even in constraint environments policy entrepreneurs can gain access to consultation mechanisms, as state institutions are depend on their expertise and knowledge (Guo & Zhang, 2014; Bindman et al., 2019; Khmelnitskaya et al., 2023). 

This paper focuses on the role of policy entrepreneurs in authoritarian policy-making. Based on a comparative case study of three authoritarian regimes in Eurasia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan), it analysis the questions how policy entrepreneurs have contributed to policy formation, specifically in the field of social policy. The paper uses empirical data from the three cases, including interviews with policy experts both from the public and nonprofit sector. In addition, it makes use of reports on policy developments, statistical data and secondary resources. 

The main argument of the paper is that authoritarian regimes provide opportunities for the participation of policy entrepreneurs, as decision-makers are keen to obtain external expertise and feedback channels that allow them to monitor public support for their decisions. In authoritarian regimes, policy entrepreneurs rely on collaborative strategies to inform policy-making and make use of resource allocation and professionalization strategies to have political leeway. Particularly, policy entrepreneurs from the nonprofit sector strategically use their capabilities to insert ideas in the policy process. By analysing the diverse mechanisms of policy participation and strategic action by policy entrepreneurs, the paper contributes to our understanding of public policy in authoritarian regimes.