Policy Entrepreneurs and the Design of Administrative Reform: A Conceptual Framework and the Israeli Case

What is the role of policy entrepreneurs in promoting the design of public administrative reform? We present a conceptual framework for assessing the influence of policy entrepreneurs on public administrative reform. We start by proposing a typology of the various policy entrepreneurs active in the administrative reform arena. We then analyze the unique political and institutional obstacles to reform and the motivations and strategies of local players for overcoming them. Finally, we test the framework using textual analysis and in-depth interviews with Israeli politicians, senior bureaucrats and nongovernmental officials about the 2013–2018 attempt to reform Israel's civil service. We also discuss the need to test the theoretical aspects of this framework in other contexts.