When active representation is not enough: ethnic minority street-level workers in a divided society and policy entrepreneurship

Can street-level workers from an ethnic minority in a divided society act as policy entrepreneurs and affect policy design? How their shared values with the homogeneous local government play a role in enabling policy entrepreneurship? Active representation refers to bureaucrats promoting the interests of the clients with whom they share the same characteristics or background. The assumption is that the behaviour of the bureaucrats—rather than their background, per se—affects citizens’ responses. However, in such cases, although they are active, street-level workers are fighting to change outcomes within institutions established by others. With regard to Arab social workers in Israel, we provide a new perspective on how ethnic minority street-level workers in a divided society may go beyond active representation in an attempt to directly influence policy design as entrepreneurs. We also identify the conditions that drive policy entrepreneurship and the strategies used to accomplish these goals.