Between markets and regimes: Minority urban entrepreneurs' political voice in gentrifying neighborhoods across diverse political-geographic contexts

Studies on ethnic entrepreneurship and political agency often highlight how minority business owners leverage commercial spaces for cultural visibility and political voice. However, the mechanisms transforming these spaces into sites of representation remain under-theorized. This study challenges the liberal-democratic normativity in Global North scholarship, which normalizes political voice as a desirable and viable branding choice. Instead, I introduce the concept of Situated Entrepreneurial Activism to argue that entrepreneurial agency is geopolitically contingent, where the regime dictates whether politicization functions as a marketable asset or a financial liability. Using commercial gentrification as a critical backdrop, positioning ethnic entrepreneurs at the intersection of competing class and ethnic interests, I analyze how different political environments shape this agency. Through a Critical Juxtaposition of Latino entrepreneurs in the US (Barrio Logan) and Arab entrepreneurs in Israel (Old Acre), the research reveals two distinct patterns: In the liberal-democratic context of California’s Barrio Logan, notwithstanding its structural challenges and rising political polarization, diversity functions as a market asset; consequently, Latino entrepreneurs engage in Cooperative and Separatist Entrepreneurial Activism, transforming political slogans into 'consumer products.' Conversely, in Israel’s ethnocratic and conflict-driven setting, Arab entrepreneurs perceive politicization as a liability, prioritizing class identity or adopting Covert Entrepreneurial Activism. This pragmatic "Resistance through Presence" prioritizes asset preservation and physical rootedness over overt politicization. By framing commercial spaces as geopolitical indicators, this study shows how regime type and political tolerance shapes the shifting value of minority entrepreneurial activism.