Front-line workers in local government are no longer ‘street level bureaucrats’ but instead act as ‘civic entrepreneurs’ to make order out of chaos for their communities

In the 1970’s academic Michael Lipsky coined the term ‘street level bureaucracy’ to describe how front-line workers in the public sector form a vital part of the policy-making community. Catherine Durose shows how contemporary notions of civic entrepreneurship have evolved in the UK, providing a source for innovation in local governance by tapping into the flexibility and relationship-building skills of local people