Policy Entrepreneurs,Policy Opportunists,and Legislative Effectiveness

Abstract

Although there is a growing literature on policy entrepreneurs and policy enactment, there has been little systematic examination of legislative policy entrepreneurs and the effect of policy entrepreneurship on a legislator's standing. This article identifies policy entrepreneurs in each of three sessions of the North Carolina General Assembly and examines the effect of policy entrepreneurship on legislators' effectiveness as perceived by peers and close observers. It also defines and identifies a second category —policy opportunists — legislators who have not exhibited expertise and persistence necessary for policy entrepreneurship but who are associated with salient issues whose "policy window" has opened. Both policy entrepreneurs and policy opportunists benefit from increases in their standing, but policy entrepreneurs benefit more than their opportunistic peers. The importance of the issue cycle is illustrated in the changing cast of legislative policy entrepreneurs and policy opportunists over the three sessions.