ECPR Joint Sessions of Workshops , Grenoble April 2001 Regional Elites and Public Entrepreneurship 1 FIRST DRAFT Comments most welcome

What is the role of political entrepreneurship in fostering regional demands for autonomy from national/central administration? Political, public (managerial and administrative) as well as economic actors are examined in their attempt at devising policies relevant to their respective localities/regions. Standard definitions of political entrepreneurship (i.e. Schneider, Mintrop) are employed in attempting to determine motivational structure and available policy space. It is assumed that a number of actors in their attempt to expand their policy domain inevitably become agents of change and fuel demands for political and administrative autonomy from their respective nation states. This is a predominantly theoretical account. The main focus is on exploring preconditions for fostering those regionalist, bottom-up demands that can alter the relationship between nation states and their periphery.