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  • © 2019

Political Entrepreneurship

How to Build Successful Centrist Political Start-ups

Authors:

  • Demonstrates how political entrepreneurs can drive political change
  • Presents tools and methods for successful political entrepreneurship
  • Offers first-hand insights into the successes of En Marche in France, Ciudadanos in Spain, NEOS in Austria and other centrist political startups

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Table of contents (11 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxv
  2. Introducing Political Entrepreneurship

    • Josef Lentsch
    Pages 1-14
  3. Liberal Democracies in Crisis

    • Josef Lentsch
    Pages 15-25
  4. Leadership

    • Josef Lentsch
    Pages 27-36
  5. Understanding Political Systems

    • Josef Lentsch
    Pages 37-45
  6. Building Models for Political Change

    • Josef Lentsch
    Pages 47-60
  7. (Co)-Design

    • Josef Lentsch
    Pages 61-78
  8. Getting Competitive

    • Josef Lentsch
    Pages 79-90
  9. Ready, Steady, Go

    • Josef Lentsch
    Pages 91-108
  10. Enter

    • Josef Lentsch
    Pages 109-115
  11. Growing Up and Handing Over

    • Josef Lentsch
    Pages 117-133
  12. Back Matter

    Pages 141-149

About this book

This book demonstrates how political entrepreneurs – entrepreneurially minded citizens who launch innovative political start-ups – can drive political change. Building on unique insights, rich examples and personal stories of centrist political entrepreneurs distilled from 40 in-depth interviews, the author guides readers through key stages of political entrepreneurship, and shows how to master them. By equally highlighting successes and failures, the book reveals how political entrepreneurs actually go about producing transformative political change.


In light of the populist challenge and the decline of traditional political parties, the book also offers an entertaining backstage view and first-hand insights into the successes of En Marche in France, Ciudadanos in Spain, NEOS in Austria and other centrist political startups. It provides practical advice on how to learn from and replicate their successes. Political practitioners and other politically interested readers will find a useful theory of Political Entrepreneurship – what it is, how it works, and what its role is in 21st century democracies. Most of all, they will find essential, reproducible tools and methods.


“You have read a lot about startups in business, but if you want to know how Silicon Valley style startups look in politics, read this. Its author is not only writing about political entrepreneurs, he is one of them.”

Ivan Krastev (Chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies in Sofia, and permanent Fellow at the Institute of Human Sciences in Vienna)

“No one understands better what it takes to take a political start up from ideation to the parliament than Josef Lentsch. In ‘Political Entrepreneurship’ he combines first-hand experience with a thoughtful review of what we know about entrepreneurship in the interest of society.”

Johanna Mair (Professor of Organization, Strategy and Leadership at the Hertie School ofGovernance, and Co-Director Global Innovation for Impact Lab at Stanford University)

 “Josef Lentsch has produced a fascinating, commanding guide to the new, insurgent players shaking up traditional party systems and reinvigorating liberal politics. Political Entrepreneurship is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand today's fragmented and disrupted European politics - and the European politics of the future.”

Jeremy Cliffe (Charlemagne columnist, The Economist)


"The rarest of events has occurred - a new political species has appeared in the European eco-system, the centrist political start up. From Macron's En Marche in France to Spain's Ciudadanos, a new type of political actor has emerged. Few are better positioned to tell this Europe-wide story than Josef Lentsch who has had a front-seat view on this important political transformation that is shaking Europe. A dramatic and important account."

Daniel Ziblatt (Eaton Professor of Government, Harvard University and co-author of How Democracies Die)


Authors and Affiliations

  • NEOS Lab, Vienna, Austria

    Josef Lentsch

About the author

Josef Lentsch is Founding Director of NEOS Lab, the party academy of NEOS in Vienna, Austria. He was a founding board member of NEOS.



Prior to that, he was the International Director for the Royal Society of Arts in London. He co-founded, managed and sold UNIPORT, Austria’s largest careers service for students and graduates.


He holds an MSc in Psychology from the University of Vienna, and an MPA in Public Administration from Harvard University. 



Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access