ABSTRACT

This article explores the contested politics and interpretations of the new practices of municipal entrepreneurship across local government in the UK. Drawing on empirical evidence from six case studies of entrepreneurship in local councils, descriptions of income-generating projects by officers in thirty authorities, and a series of semi-structured interviews, we identify, name and characterise an emergent discourse of municipal entrepreneurship for the public purpose. We argue that this novel strand of discourse within the wider field of urban entrepreneurialism confers a degree of political agency to local authorities under austerity, while redescribing and attaching commercialism and entrepreneurship to the public good. In so doing, we challenge overly reductionist accounts of local state agency under austerity, and articulate and evaluate the potentials and obstacles for a progressive interventionism in this discursive space.

摘要

本文探讨了英国地方政府对市政创业新做法的争议政治和解释。根据来自地方议会创业的六个案例研究、三十个当局官员对创收项目的描述以及一系列半结构化访谈的实证证据，我们为公众识别、命名和描述了一种新兴的市政创业话语目的。我们认为，在更广泛的城市企业家精神领域内，这种新颖的话语链赋予地方当局一定程度的政治代理权，同时重新描述商业主义和企业家精神并将其与公共利益联系起来。在这样做的过程中，我们挑战了地方政府机构在紧缩政策下过度简化的说法，