Low-level bureaucrats, local government regimes and policy entrepreneurship

Can professional low-level bureaucrats who implement policy act as policy entrepreneurs and affect policy design? Does the transition from traditional, hierarchical administrations to local governance systems play a role in enabling policy entrepreneurship among such low-level bureaucrats? We explore these questions using the case study of waste separation in Israeli local authorities. We maintain that the attributes of local governance can explain their success in affecting policy. Our findings demonstrate how low-level bureaucrats who act as policy entrepreneurs use the structural characteristics of governance as a window of opportunity for reform. When the mode of governance is more lateral and less traditional, these bureaucrats have a better chance of acting as policy entrepreneurs.