Abstract

Local Government Studies, DOI: 10.1080/03003930.2021.1932479

Abstract

This paper develops a critical understanding of municipal entrepreneurship support policies (MESPs) by investigating the strength of convergence and divergence trends with respect to neoliberal modes of governance in this policy field. To do so, it draws on a comparison between Milan and Barcelona’s MESPs and investigates the ways local policy actors interpret, invalidate or reproduce a neoliberal approach to entrepreneurship policies. Findings from the analysis of grey literature and interviews with policy actors and practitioners show the role municipal governments and local socio-economic and institutional conditions play in shaping compound and divergent approaches to MESPs. On this basis, the article reflects on the agency of local governments and the way urban policies and governance may deviate from neoliberal trajectories.