Policy Entrepreneurship inChina's Response to Urban Poverty

Recent studies of policy and policy actors in C hina have made use of the policy entrepreneur concept that has been popular in studies of policy in N orth A merica and E urope. These approaches have understood the concept in its traditional form dealing with agenda setting and nonstate actors. The policy entrepreneur has developed beyond these confines and now offers a broader descriptive framework within which to understand the successes and failures of particular initiatives. This article uses these new developments, specifically the framework outlined by M introm and N orman, to describe the success of policy entrepreneurship in the development of the urban resident M inimum L ivelihood G uarantee. This case was selected because existing scholarship has ignored the entrepreneurial role of bureaucrats in its development. The use of this framework without adaptation to describe policy actors in C hina demonstrates the further application of policy entrepreneurs outside of Western democracies.