On the Motivations of Political Entrepreneurs

ABSTRACT This article examines what motivates individuals to undertake the high‐cost strategy of founding new political organisations. It presents a comparative study of two Norwegian organisations that emerged in the late 2010s: the anti‐wind power interest group Motvind and the anti‐road toll party Folkeaksjonen Nei til mer Bompenger (FNB). Drawing on semi‐structured interviews with founders, the analysis shows that political entrepreneurship in both cases was primarily driven by strong emotional motivations, including anger, indignation, sorrow, and perceptions of injustice. These emotions helped founders overcome collective action barriers and commit to organisation‐building, even in the absence of clear material rewards. While the specific emotional content differed across issue contexts, emotionally grounded moral evaluations consistently preceded purposive motivations related to policy influence. By highlighting the role of emotional incentives at the founding stage, the article challenges accounts that emphasise material incentives such as prestige, income, or office as primary drivers of political entrepreneurship.