Major overhauls of aid policies and institutions are comparatively rare. When they happen, they are usually ascribed to pressures arising from outside donor agencies. Where internal forces for change are identified, the focus is on field operatives rather than political entrepreneurs based in donor head offices. This article homes in on the role of the political entrepreneur and shows how this actor can help effect top‐down reforms to overseas development assistance. It does so by combining a political entrepreneurship perspective with a broader theorisation of policy change, historical institutionalism, and applying this innovative framework to French aid reforms over the years (2001–2010) when Jean‐Michel Severino was Managing Director of the Agence Francaise de Developpement. It finds that, although historical institutionalism can explain the broad direction of French changes in terms of “structural factors” such as exogenous shocks and new institutional configurations, it struggles to account for incremental shifts and the emergence of “new” ideas. Political entrepreneurship addresses these issues through its emphasis on individual human agents and their operational and ideational strategies. It concludes that this relatively parsimonious framework could provide an enhanced understanding of other reforms in the international development field and beyond.

中文翻译：

---

加深对援助政策改革的理解：从法国案例中学习

援助政策和机构的重大改革相对较少。当它们发生时，它们通常归因于来自外部捐助机构的压力。在确定变革的内部力量的地方，重点是实地操作人员，而不是捐助者总部的政治企业家。本文主要关注政治企业家的作用，并展示了这个角色如何帮助实现对海外发展援助的自上而下的改革。它通过将政治创业视角与更广泛的政策变革理论、历史制度主义相结合，并将这一创新框架应用于法国援助改革多年（2001 年至 2010 年），当时 Jean-Michel Severino发展。它发现，尽管历史制度主义可以从外部冲击和新制度配置等“结构性因素”来解释法国变化的大方向，但它难以解释渐进式转变和“新”思想的出现。政治企业家精神通过强调个体人类代理人及其操作和构思策略来解决这些问题。它的结论是，这个相对简洁的框架可以加深对国际发展领域及其他领域的其他改革的理解。政治企业家精神通过强调个体人类代理人及其操作和构思策略来解决这些问题。它的结论是，这个相对简洁的框架可以加深对国际发展领域及其他领域的其他改革的理解。政治企业家精神通过强调个体人类代理人及其操作和构思策略来解决这些问题。它的结论是，这个相对简洁的框架可以加深对国际发展领域及其他领域的其他改革的理解。