Abstract

The article discusses entrepreneurship in a frequently forgotten perspective: its use by governments as a specific kind of public policy. In this perspective, entrepreneurship appears as a multidimensional process that is gaining broad symbolic-ideological features in our society. Analysing how Portuguese governments have understood and used enterpreneuship during the last decades, the article explores the path made by entrepreneurship in the programmes of the respective governments. With this aim, the article identifies a first moment in which entrepreneurship has been more a programmatic principle than an applied policy and underlines a recent change: within the last two constitutional governments's policies, entrepreneurship has become a more prolific practical reality, resulting in a coherent and cohesive set of policies aimed at facing youth unemployment.