Whether from the private, public or third sector, one of their defining characteristics is a willingness to invest their own resources – time, energy, reputation and sometimes money – in hope of a future return.
It is a process that involves individuals who are willing to take risks, identify policy problems and solutions, and use their political skills and timing to achieve a specified outcome" ([2]).
Most accounts and case studies address these individuals in a national context but the emergence of transnational policy entrepreneurs is increasingly apparent.
Political entrepreneurs are most active in the policy stream, creating solutions to potential problems and bringing them forth to the agenda setting process.
This is done by addressing issues and problems and coming up with solutions to them by creating policy alternatives into a product that they can present as a persuasive agenda that policy-makers should examine.
A successful policy entrepreneur will manage to get their issues onto a political agenda and potentially pass and influence a form of legislation that relates to their personal benefit.
This could be having expert knowledge on a topic or holding an important position of power in a corporation or special interest group that allows them to make decisions.
Many hours must be dedicated to their idea by giving speeches and talks, writing papers and speaking in front of government committees if they are to have success.
[10] Evelyn Brodkin, associate professor at Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice, writes in Political Science Quarterly that Kingdon's book provides a good analysis of how policy participants see their own role in influencing others, raising issue awareness and framing these issues for debate.
[11] The frequent use of Kingdons agenda-setting framework in policy analysis is especially interesting because the book focuses solely on the United States.
It can be argued that a framework developed exclusively on the basis of the examination of a single nation should not be able to generate useful insight in comparative research across the globe.
Still, the MSF has been used in a large number of studies of subnational politics such as the European Union, the United Nations, and countries beyond the USA.
Cairney and Zahariadis explain that this is because Kingdon's MSF possesses a language that is flexible enough to be relevant on a wide range of policy making processes.
[3] Isambard Kingdom Brunel is a mechanical engineer that engaged in the debate about whether paddle wheels or screw propellers were more powerful for moving boats.
In his role as advisor to Prime Minister Hawke, he wrote to him about problems with fixed exchange rates and instituting labour-market reform.
[15] The Federation of American Scientists presented its inaugural Policy Entrepreneurship Award in 2023 to Alexa White, co-founder of the AYA Research Institute.