Polarization Entrepreneurs: Dividing to Conquer in the Trump Era
本文提出‘极化企业家’概念,指那些不解决具体政策冲突、而是利用极化实现意识形态巩固或选举优势的参与者,并基于多源流框架和倡导联盟框架分析其运作机制,为理解当代政策系统提供新视角。
ABSTRACT The policy process literature has long theorized about the role of policy entrepreneurs, whom Paul Cairney calls the “hero… who knows that the pursuit of ambitious aims such as ‘evidence‐based policymaking’ requires framing a problem, having a solution ready, and exploiting the motive and opportunity of policymakers to select it” (2018, 199). The research agenda on policy entrepreneurs also holds great potential for another type of policy actor that we aim to introduce into the policy process lexicon: the polarization entrepreneur. These polarization entrepreneurs aim not to resolve the specific policy conflict at hand, but to advance broader strategic goals, such as solidifying their ideological base, expanding their influence across several policy subsystems, or gaining electoral advantage. We introduce the polarization entrepreneur as a policy actor who strategizes within policy spaces in ways we have not yet fully comprehended or theorized. We thus draw on the Multiple Streams Literature (MSF), the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) literature, as well as the political rise of Donald Trump to theorize about how these polarization entrepreneurs operate. We suggest a research agenda that presents a wealth of opportunity for policy scholars to better understand the policy system of our day.