Facing barriers to change, policy entrepreneurs often shift their activities to a more favourable... more Facing barriers to change, policy entrepreneurs often shift their activities to a more favourable venue. In the new venue they either pressure the system from the outside, leading to policy punctuation, or make incremental changes within the existing system which over time will accumulate to a significant change in the status quo. This article aims to expand our understanding of policy entrepreneurs’ role in the policy process by examining the strategies they use in the incremental path. Specifically, it focuses on one gradual change strategy, conversion – redirection of existing institutions to new purposes. Based on the case of policy entrepreneurs in the Holy Basin of Jerusalem, the findings indicate that when the entrepreneurs shift the venue to the bureaucracy they can establish cooperative relations with the government that will provide them with the needed capacities to exploit the gaps in the existing rules and redirect them to serve their aim.
ABSTRACT Gradual transformative policy change has attracted increasing attention in recent times.... more ABSTRACT Gradual transformative policy change has attracted increasing attention in recent times. However, existing explanations for the evolvement of the various modes of such change do not account for the direction and content of change and also have difficulty with more complex policy change processes in which several modes are employed. Ideational analysis can fill this gap, albeit most ideational research does not address gradual policy and ideational changes. Based on a process tracing of two cases from Israeli immigration policy, this article argues that a low level of discretion and a strong status quo bias are conditions that enable institutional conversion through layering. Ideational change in policy solution and problem definition ideas, and the interaction between the two, can explain this pattern and its direction. The article not only expands our knowledge of gradual transformative change, but also moves ideational research a step beyond punctuated equilibrium.
Facing barriers to change, policy entrepreneurs often shift their activities to a more favourable... more Facing barriers to change, policy entrepreneurs often shift their activities to a more favourable venue. In the new venue they either pressure the system from the outside, leading to policy punctuation, or make incremental changes within the existing system which over time will accumulate to a significant change in the status quo. This article aims to expand our understanding of policy entrepreneurs’ role in the policy process by examining the strategies they use in the incremental path. Specifically, it focuses on one gradual change strategy, conversion – redirection of existing institutions to new purposes. Based on the case of policy entrepreneurs in the Holy Basin of Jerusalem, the findings indicate that when the entrepreneurs shift the venue to the bureaucracy they can establish cooperative relations with the government that will provide them with the needed capacities to exploit the gaps in the existing rules and redirect them to serve their aim.
ABSTRACT Gradual transformative policy change has attracted increasing attention in recent times.... more ABSTRACT Gradual transformative policy change has attracted increasing attention in recent times. However, existing explanations for the evolvement of the various modes of such change do not account for the direction and content of change and also have difficulty with more complex policy change processes in which several modes are employed. Ideational analysis can fill this gap, albeit most ideational research does not address gradual policy and ideational changes. Based on a process tracing of two cases from Israeli immigration policy, this article argues that a low level of discretion and a strong status quo bias are conditions that enable institutional conversion through layering. Ideational change in policy solution and problem definition ideas, and the interaction between the two, can explain this pattern and its direction. The article not only expands our knowledge of gradual transformative change, but also moves ideational research a step beyond punctuated equilibrium.
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In the new venue they either pressure the system from the outside, leading to policy punctuation, or
make incremental changes within the existing system which over time will accumulate to a significant
change in the status quo. This article aims to expand our understanding of policy entrepreneurs’
role in the policy process by examining the strategies they use in the incremental path. Specifically,
it focuses on one gradual change strategy, conversion – redirection of existing institutions to new
purposes. Based on the case of policy entrepreneurs in the Holy Basin of Jerusalem, the findings
indicate that when the entrepreneurs shift the venue to the bureaucracy they can establish cooperative
relations with the government that will provide them with the needed capacities to exploit the
gaps in the existing rules and redirect them to serve their aim.
In the new venue they either pressure the system from the outside, leading to policy punctuation, or
make incremental changes within the existing system which over time will accumulate to a significant
change in the status quo. This article aims to expand our understanding of policy entrepreneurs’
role in the policy process by examining the strategies they use in the incremental path. Specifically,
it focuses on one gradual change strategy, conversion – redirection of existing institutions to new
purposes. Based on the case of policy entrepreneurs in the Holy Basin of Jerusalem, the findings
indicate that when the entrepreneurs shift the venue to the bureaucracy they can establish cooperative
relations with the government that will provide them with the needed capacities to exploit the
gaps in the existing rules and redirect them to serve their aim.