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The Palgrave Handbook of Political Elites

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About this book

This handbook presents a comprehensive view of the current theory and research surrounding political elites, which is now a pivotal subject for academic study and public discourse. In 43 chapters by leading scholars, it displays the field’s richness and diversity. The handbook is organized in six sections, each introduced by a co-editor, focusing on theories about political elites, methods for studying them, their main structural and behavioral patterns worldwide, the differentiation and integration of political elite sectors, elite attributes and resources, and the dilemmas of political elites in this century. Forty years since Robert Putnam’s landmark Comparative Study of Political Elites, this handbook is an indispensable resource for scholars and students engaged in the study of this vibrant field.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter
1. The Palgrave Handbook of Political Elites: Introduction

The chapter introduces the Palgrave Handbook of Political Elites. It highlights the increasing importance of the handbook’s subject in general public and scholarly discourses, whereas since the mid-1970s, no comprehensive summary of the rapidly increasing literature on political elites had appeared. The introduction gives a definition of political elites, outlines the thematic orientation of studies of political elites during the past decades, and diagnoses a lack of a generally accepted theory or even typology for the field. The chapter concludes with a summary of the handbook’s structure.

Heinrich Best, John Higley

Theories of Political Elites

Frontmatter
2. The Development of Elite Theory

This chapter introduces the handbook section on elite theory. It traces the roots of elite theory to Machiavelli and Hobbes and considers the seminal influence of Pareto, Mosca, Michels, Weber, Schumpeter, and Ortega y Gasset. It provides an overview of elite theory itself and links the composition, recruitment, and relative integration of elite groups, such as top politicians, heads of state agencies, and leaders of business and organized labor, to important social and political outcomes. Processes of political elite decay and replacement and how these processes clash with Marxist and democratic strands of theory, which link social and political change to class struggles or beliefs of mass populations, are also discussed.

Jan Pakulski
3. Classical Elite Theory: Pareto and Weber

A hundred years after Pareto and Weber wrote their major works, the elite concept and framework are not as robust as they should be. “Elite” is impoverished semantically in public usage, and classical elite theory is seldom employed in social science. Both need to be clarified and resurrected. Pareto fathered the elite concept and made it the centerpiece of an ambitious theory of society. Weber advanced a similarly ambitious theory anchored in a philosophy, methodology, and political outlook different from Pareto’s. Yet the theories of Pareto and Weber were strikingly congruent, and highlighting this congruence lends force to the explicative value of the elite concept and of elite theory today.

Jan Pakulski
4. Continuities and Discontinuities in Elite Theory

A theory of politics and society centered on elites emerged early in the twentieth century. However, the theory was relegated to the century’s intellectual sidelines by visions of thoroughly egalitarian societies and wholly self-governing democracies. No such societies or democracies materialized, and the century’s main socio-political developments were broadly consistent with elite theory. In ominous twenty-first century domestic and international circumstances, there are reasons to believe that the long eclipse of an elite theory of politics and society is ending. Yet, confusion envelops the elite concept, the meaning of elitism, and elite theory’s main tenets. This chapter seeks to dispel some of this confusion.

John Higley
5. Political Elites and Democracy

Theorists of elites, especially followers of Vilfredo Pareto, Gaetano Mosca, Robert Michels, Max Weber, and Joseph Schumpeter, have criticized democracy, understood as rule by the people, as illusory. Theorists of democracy have reciprocated by portraying political elites and strong leaders as dangerous. Although acrimony between the two schools of thought has abated somewhat during a long debate, there is still a sizable gap between elite theorists, who regard democracy with skepticism, and neo-classical theorists of democracy. This chapter examines both sides of the debate and the direction in which it may be headed.

András Körösényi
6. Theory-Based Typologies of Political Elites

Elite typologies are conceptual tools used to reduce the empirical variety of elites to a small number of ideal types. This chapter is limited to discussing elite typologies that make explicit assumptions about the relationship between the attributes of elites and the characteristics of regimes. The two dimensions that have been the basis of most theory-oriented elite typologies are the extent of elite integration and the character of elite-citizen linkages. The complexity of the characteristics of elites, elite-citizen linkages, and regimes on which the typologies are based poses fundamental problems of operationalization. Empirical elite research has used elite typologies primarily as a means to illustrate the usefulness of a large number of indicators without adequately discussing how they can be combined to test the validity of the theories underlying these elite typologies. More comparative and longitudinal research is needed to tackle these problems.

Ursula Hoffmann-Lange

Research Methods for Studying Elites

Frontmatter
7. Research Methods for Studying Elites

The introduction to Part II, Research Methods for Studying Elites, highlights principal methodological developments in the studies of political elites. They involve: (1) methods for explaining how institutions affect the behavior of elites (e.g., event-history analysis and Social Network Analysis), (2) methods for drawing inferences about political outcomes from the knowledge of elites’ behavior (e.g., surveys and experiments), and (3) methods for analyzing the interactions of various elite groups (e.g., observations and interviews of elite members). In addition, methods that have been rarely used in political elite research (e.g., fuzzy-set typologies and fuzzy cognitive maps) are discussed in terms of their merits for examining elite attitudes, structures, and interactions.

Elena Semenova
8. Methods of Elite Identification

This chapter discusses the three classic methods of elite identification—the positional, the decisional, and the reputational method. The three methods use different operationalizations of political power and influence. The procedures involved in applying the methods are explained and critically discussed, with reference to prominent elite studies. The three methods differ with respect to how they determine elite boundaries. The choice of method determines the size and structure of the resulting elite formation. Depending on the method chosen, empirical elite research is compatible with both the assumption of a small and exclusive power elite or a pluralistic elite structure. Therefore, the resulting elite structure does not permit determining the degree of power concentration in society in an absolute way, but only comparatively.

Ursula Hoffmann-Lange
9. Surveying and Observing Political Elites

Surveys and observation are two strategies of inquiry that gather rich amounts of data about political elites’ opinions, attitudes, and behavior. These research techniques have experienced advances benefitting from the development of the Internet and new technological tools. Survey research has evolved from country studies to comparative research with greater amounts of units and cases. However, such studies face important challenges regarding questionnaire design, sampling, interviewing, and data analysis. In particular, problems of representativity and lack of control may threaten comparative analysis. On their side, observation techniques raise the question of accessibility, of potential imbalance between investigators and elites but also, paradoxically, risks of excessive empathy between observer and observed. Wealth of information is a leading hallmark of qualitative research and can give rise to “thick” descriptions and interpretations. Such a contextual “richness,” which provides greater texture and nuance, is highly desirable when the aim is to produce monographic studies. However, it is somewhat more problematic where theoretical ambitions or even comparisons are involved. This chapter offers an overview of both techniques in terms of recent contributions and methodological issues, and suggests how to address these challenges in elite research.

Juan Rodríguez-Teruel, Jean-Pascal Daloz
10. Temporal Methods in Political Elite Studies

This chapter provides a history and overview of the empirical methods to study temporal aspects of political elites’ careers. Building on ideas developed by Jean Blondel and others within their seminal contributions to the field, it begins with a justification for studying the careers of political elites from a temporal perspective. The chapter then illustrates early descriptive methodological approaches before plotting the trajectory of event history analysis from its early adoption by political scientists in the late 1980s and early 1990s to its current position as the modal tool to analyze political career paths. Sequence analysis is then highlighted as a complementary method which may offset some limitations of event history approaches. It shifts the focus from explaining single or multiple transitions within a trajectory to a more holistic description of the complete career. Examples from elite studies are presented to show the possibilities and potential pitfalls of temporal methods.

Sebastian Jäckle, Matthew Kerby
11. Analyses of Elite Networks

Social network analysis (SNA) provides important tools and methods for researchers of political elites on four issues: elite interactions, identifying elite groups and their social structure, measuring elite power, and defining elites. Researchers can examine different factors influencing interactions among elites while properly accounting for the interdependent nature of such data using exponential random graph models (ERGMs) and stochastic actor-based models (SOAMs). Visualizations and community-finding algorithms allow the detection of groups, core members, cleavages, and polarization/fractionalization in this interaction network. Powerful elites can be identified through centrality measures, which also help distinguish between different types of influence. SNA research on nomination networks and on sampling in networks, particularly on more principled snowball-sampling methods, could help expose biases in the way researchers determine whom to include in their study.

Franziska Barbara Keller

Political Elite Patterns in the World’s Main Regions

Frontmatter
12. Patterns of Political Elites

Efforts to specify main patterns of political elite relations and link them to types of political regimes and other major political phenomena have been a long-standing aspect of elite theory and research. Some patterns provide elite persons and groups with considerable security and ways of defending and advancing their interests peacefully. Other patterns make elite power wielding a precarious, highly uncertain game in which conspiracy and violence are key elements. Different patterns result in different modes of elite behavior: relatively benevolent or predacious, relatively calculating or capricious, and relatively cooperative or conflicting. The systematic study of political elites thus involves identifying patterns of elite relations in modern societies, how and when changes from one to another pattern occur, the ways in which mass populations affect elite relations, and the chief political and other consequences of each pattern. These are complex and controversial issues. By analyzing the relations and practices of political elites in the world’s major regions and many of its most important national states, this section of the handbook addresses these issues.

John Higley
13. Pre-modern Power Elites: Princes, Courts, Intermediaries

This chapter provides a global view of pre-modern elites. Dynastic rule predominates in history; it molded the shape of elites worldwide. Rulers’ offspring held elite status, and their alliances created a second elite. In addition to these two core groups, various types of servants can be found in most domains: domestics, administrators, soldiers, and spiritual leaders. Which forms of recruitment and legitimization can be found for these functional elites? Is it possible to establish regional typologies? How did these elites relate to the ruler, and how did their interaction take shape? How powerful were rulers, often styled as omnipotent? What tied the intermediary elites to the court, and what alienated them? The chapter closes with a brief comparison of pre-modern and modern political practices.

Jeroen Duindam
14. Political Elites in the Middle East and North Africa

The Middle East and North Africa, consisting of most of the Arab League members plus Iran, Israel, and Turkey, are regions of the traditional Muslim homeland that lie closest to Europe and where post-colonial elites were particularly conditioned by the dialectics of emancipation. The more protracted the struggle, the greater the opportunities to forge populations into new nations led by Western educated elites. Conversely, where nationalist agitation was confined to the cities, the military would replace traditional elites after independence in more inclusive political orders. By the 1970s, however, assertions of religious identity would challenge all of the post-colonial regimes, and those with the strongest civil societies, such as Tunisia, stood better chances than the others of weathering the storm of identity politics.

Clement M. Henry
15. Political Elites in South Asia

This chapter highlights the “intimate” character of political elites in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. Relations among political, civil service, business, media, professional, religious, and other powerful groups are examined, and their consequences for the stability or instability of political regimes are analyzed. Reflecting India’s size, diversity, and importance, its national, provincial, and local political elites receive detailed attention.

Philip Oldenburg
16. Political Elites in Southeast Asia

Colonial-era tutelage is often hypothesized as unifying relations between local elites and stabilizing politics along at least semi-democratic lines. This chapter argues, however, that in Southeast Asia, far more strongly determinative than colonial experience are the crises that such experience can subsequently give rise to, creating elite-level divisions and regimes that are unstable, undemocratic, or both. To show this, while analysis touches on most countries in Southeast Asia, the chapter focuses on the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia. Though Thailand was never formally colonized, national elites learned much from the British and French colonial powers that operated around it. In addition, Malaysia demonstrates that ethnic “pillarization,” far from mitigating elite divisions and unstable democracy, can exacerbate tensions and trigger authoritarian backlash.

William Case
17. Political Elites in Sub-Saharan Africa

This chapter underlines the fact that elite perspectives have never been given a high priority in African studies. Analyses have long suffered from having to fit reductive schematic molds full of dogmatic assumptions, as is demonstrated here in the first section revisiting the developmentalist and neo-Marxist theories that became predominant at the beginning of the post-colonial era, but also the so-called third wave of African studies. It is argued that due to the fact that in sub-Saharan Africa, political power remains weakly institutionalized, moving away from highly abstract or normative discussions and looking at situations from the more concrete angle of elites should be given priority. Recurrent features such as the enduring predominance of informal political relations, the long tenures, and limited circulation of top-level political leaders, as well as the imperative of particularistic economic redistributions are emphasized.

Jean-Pascal Daloz
18. Political Elites in Latin America

The trajectories of political elites in Latin America have been shaped by two main factors: the extent of horizontal integration among elite individuals and factions, and the readiness of entrenched elites to incorporate elites heading emerging social and political forces. Political elites have thus displayed both circulation and continuity, albeit in degrees that have varied between countries and within them over time. Because the welfare of Latin American societies has always depended heavily on extracting and exporting natural resources, elite groups and factions have battled each other for control of this extraction and export and the largesse flowing from it. In a word, the economic basis of Latin American countries has fostered rent-seeking elites, an observation that remains relevant.

Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser
19. The Political Elite in Post-Soviet Russia

The political elite in Russia is often thought to consist of three prominent groups: Putin’s inner circle, the oligarchs, and the siloviki. To these, I add a fourth, less visible but equally important: the state bureaucrats. At the apex of the elite system, these groups overlap: some siloviki have become business heads, while some oligarchs have moved into the security branches. The oligarchs, siloviki, and bureaucrats all head hierarchical organizations that have hundreds of thousands of lower-level officials. The mass base of Putin’s inner circle is less easily defined and rests to a high degree on the managed charisma of Vladimir Putin. The sustainability of this system in the face of a prolonged economic downturn remains an open question.

Peter Rutland
20. The Political Elite in China: A Dynamic Balance Between Integration and Differentiation

Studying the composition and circulation of the Chinese political elite enables analysts to transcend the long-standing diagnostic paradigm of the Leninist party-state. It provides a more specific context that can potentially help in understanding China’s future political trajectory. It can also contribute to a broader understanding of the various political transition processes––including their respective advantages and disadvantages––in authoritarian regimes in general. This chapter offers an empirically grounded, comprehensive study focused on the dynamic evolution of Chinese elite politics to enrich the wider academic literature on comparative political systems.

Cheng Li
21. Political Elites in the West

By the West, I mean the countries of Europe that were coextensive historically with Western Christendom and its offshoots in North America and Australasia. I treat the contemporary West as consisting of the European Union countries, together with the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Although Norway, Switzerland, and Iceland are not formal members of the European Union, they are clearly part of the contemporary West. Nearly all of these 35 countries have reasonably stable political systems over which consensually united political elites, practicing a generally restrained politics, preside. Yet, in the bulk of Western countries during most of their modern histories, political elites were deeply disunited, with warring factions seeking political supremacy at virtually any cost. I examine changes in political elite behavior since World War II and challenges to their consensus and unity between now and this century’s mid-point.

John Higley

Differentiation and Integration of Elite Sectors

Frontmatter
22. Elite Sectors: Differentiation and Integration

This chapter introduces the handbook section on differentiation and integration of elite sectors. It describes the formation of elites as a process of social differentiation. The resulting power structure separates economic and political elites. The process of functional differentiation of complex elite systems brings evolutionary advantages, but leads also to elite-elite and elite-population differentials with the potential for conflicts and disruptions in the interaction between elites and non-elites, elite sectors, and sub-elites. Therefore, elite differentiation is intrinsically linked to the vertical integration of elite sectors and to horizontal integration between the levels of elites and non-elites. The chapters of this section cover the sectors of representative elites, executive elites, non-elected political elites, economic elites, and media elites. A further chapter discusses models of elite integration.

Heinrich Best
23. Representative Elites

Members of parliament in representative democracies can be considered as representative elites, since they have decisive impact on policies and the institutional order of the polity and they support or overthrow governments. They are elected and entrusted with the contravening tasks of representing conflicting societal interests and of integrating them into decisions valid for the entire society. Their social setting is constituted by multiple principal-agent relations, competition and antagonistic cooperation. They have to take into account their multiple principals like the population, their party or their regional constituency to maintain their status, which gives them in turn means and resources to curb the risks of this precarious situation. Contradicting interests of citizens and representative elites are thus inevitable, but their traits, social background, recruitment patterns or political professionalization can fuel or temper the resulting antagonism.

Heinrich Best, Lars Vogel
24. Executive Elites

After a short review of studies of executive elites in the classics of political sociology and political science, this chapter provides a comprehensive assessment of three main aspects of the research literature: results achieved by scholars working on the process of top elite formation, focusing on the causes and consequences of selection (and de-selection) of ministers from a comparative perspective; the importance of executive appointments as a fundamental “payoff” of democratic governance, whereby executive spoils can be considered as an important stake in the game of distribution among parties (the case of coalition governance) or those aspiring to the role of national political leader; and the outcomes of recent studies on the behaviors of executive elites. Contributions inspired by different conceptual frameworks, ranging from the party-government to the principal-agent framework, are illustrated. Problems facing executive elites today are examined in light of current challenges to representative democracy and “anti-political” rhetoric.

Luca Verzichelli
25. Non-elected Political Elites in the EU

With globalization and Europeanization, profound changes have taken place in the composition and structure of elites. Once solidly tied to the nation state, elites have, following processes of differentiation and specialization, become more transnational than ever before. Their development has been conditioned by the evolving relationship between international, transnational, and national powers. In the European context, key institutional players today include the European Commission, the European Ombudsman and the European Court of Justice as aspiring representatives of the general European interest and the Council of Ministers and member states as representing national interests in the EU. Their relationship and changing interfaces are crucial when assessing the development of non-elected political elites as well as more generally the rise of an institutionalized and integrated Europe.

Niilo Kauppi, Mikael Rask Madsen
26. Economic Elites

The economic elite has been seen by some researchers as the most dominant of the sectoral elites while being vigorously rejected as such by others. Nonetheless, there is a general consensus that the economic elite is one of the central elites. Four types of economic elite formation can be identified: the French type, the Japanese type, the British/US type and the German type. They differ with regard to the importance of elite universities and the extent of cross-sectoral mobility. However, a transnational or global business elite is difficult to discern and many researchers deny that such an elite exists. Research has shown, for example, that of the CEOs of the 1000 biggest companies of the world, only one in eight is a foreigner and three out of four have never stayed abroad for more than six months. Connections between economic and explicitly political elites clearly differ from country to country.

Michael Hartmann
27. Media Elites

In the era of mediatized politics, political authority becomes more and more dependent on media and communication. Media elites must therefore not only be seen as elites within the particular sector of the media but also as strategic elites with significant influence on politics and society. This chapter discusses, first, who qualifies as media or journalistic elites in modern societies. Second, it outlines different theoretical approaches to the analysis of the media-politics relationship from an elite perspective. Third, it presents recent empirical findings concerning media elites in different countries and settings, focusing on the social composition of media elites, their attitudes, as well as elite relations between the media sector and the political sector.

Eva Mayerhöffer, Barbara Pfetsch
28. Models of Elite Integration

In this chapter, elites are associated with the possession of decisive political power that gives them disproportionate influence on political and social outcomes. Two opposing views of elite power in democracies are found in the literature. One is of a coalescent power structure or “power elite” and the other is of a pluralistic power structure consisting of elite groups located in diverse economic, governmental, military, media, scientific, and other sectors. The accuracy of these two conflicting views of elite power is treated as an empirical question and takes the pluralist view as the point of departure without, however, ruling out the coalescent view.

Fredrik Engelstad

Elite Attributes and Resources

Frontmatter
29. Elite Attributes and Resources

Most of the personal attributes of elites such as personality, motivation, values, political attitudes, and professional expertise are acquired in a long process of personal and political socialization. Moreover, the opportunities for advancement into elite positions are rooted in the relatively stable social and political structures of a society. The resources of elite power and influence, rather than being personal assets, are mostly tied to the elite position. While individual attributes determine how elites use these positional resources, elite behavior is shaped by institutional constraints and the expectations of their selectorates. To be effective and maintain status, elites must balance contradictory expectations of different elite groups and their electorate—in non-democratic settings, their clientele. Analyses of policy-making networks in consolidated democracies confirm that such networks include representatives of governmental agencies and other organized groups and only a few non-elite persons. Network members are engaged in a complex process of bargaining that takes place in a variety of formal and informal committees.

Jean-Pascal Daloz, Ursula Hoffmann-Lange
30. The Personality Attributes of Political Elites

This chapter reviews previous and current research on different psychological characteristics that can influence politicians’ success. Personality is defined as a self-regulatory system that mediates the relationship between a person and their environment, and accounts for features that distinguish individuals from one another in the domains of cognition, motivation, and behavior. An overview is provided of the major constructs that have been investigated in relation to politicians’ personality and the methods that have been used to study them. The use of self-report methods to investigate the traits, values, and self-beliefs of large samples of politicians, which enable comparisons between politicians and voters, within and across nations, is discussed. Findings suggest that personality attributes are important in helping explain the emergence and behavior of political elites but that much remains for future researchers to explore.

Gian Vittorio Caprara, Jo Silvester
31. Political and Social Backgrounds of Political Elites

Political elites have emerged through a process of differentiation within society and state. Politicians also appeared in the course of a successful struggle against notables. They are engaged in a political career structured as a cursus honorum. Political activities have taken the form of an enterprise, increasingly collective, and politicians need to be analyzed as political entrepreneurs. They develop their activities, led by their own interests, in relatively separated and independent worlds, in which their positions depend on the volume of a specific political capital. However, the social backgrounds of party members are a way to make connections with society. Political representation produces mirror effects, limited by the very logic of political competition that induces selection effects. All political parties experience a social selection of their political personnel. It favors different social classes or categories according to parties, which entail a relationship between political oppositions and social divides. However, the possibility that a party or a government takes charge of interests of a social category also depends on many contextual elements as well as on its specific interests and position in the political worlds.

Daniel Gaxie
32. Political Elites and Symbolic Superiority

This chapter provides reflections on symbolic dimensions of superiority as constituting a crucial resource for political elites within both pre-democratic and democratic settings. In the first section, drawing mainly from the anthropological and historical literature, various configurations of the past are discussed. It is then shown how in contemporary democratic systems, the issue of the symbolic superiority of top-level political actors is framed in specific terms. Even though they still have to stand out and above, political elites also need to remain close enough to the voters they claim to speak for. From a bottom-up perspective, they have to appear to be ‘one of us’ in contexts of (at least formal) egalitarianism. They thus have to constantly reconcile opposing imperatives of eminence and nearness. Dissimilar scenarios regarding this tension are emphasized.

Jean-Pascal Daloz
33. Norms and Orientations of Political Elites

Attitudes and orientations of mass publics gain regular public attention in the mass media and social sciences. Much less attention is paid to the orientations and norms of political elites. Research provides quite some evidence that there is interplay between political institutions, the incentives they offer and orientations and norms of political elites. Results show that institutional context gradually influences attitudinal adjustments as shown by transformation studies and that incentives of the electoral system have an impact on how representatives understand their job and how they represent. In addition, the roles political elites take in organizations or political institutions have a socializing effect on norms and behavior. These experiences also contribute to more firm belief systems and stronger ideological conceptualization of politics as part of the professionalization of politics.

Bernhard Weßels
34. Power Networks

This chapter reviews research on power networks, defined as sets of political actors connected by one or more types of decision-making actions, such as communicating, persuading, influencing, or deciding the outcomes of legislative, regulatory, or judicial issues. It examines research on policy networks in developed nations such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, and Japan, and in transitional nations of Eastern Europe and China. It reviews evidence about an emerging transnational corporate class, followed by a discussion of analytic power elite social structures and a methodological illustration using the 1990s Mexican power elite. It concludes with suggestions for future analyses of power networks.

David Knoke

Elite Dynamics and Dilemmas

Frontmatter
35. Elite Dynamics and Dilemmas

However important or even decisive their role in politics, political elites have to face crucial dilemmas and challenges. Three dilemmas—time, space and institutional environment—are, so to say, systemic, that is, they have to do with some basic dimensions of the organization of political life itself. A fourth dilemma, concerning the relationship between collective elites and individual leaders, should also be considered. First, this chapter explores how and through which instruments the crucial problem for any elite of persistence over time is faced. It discusses then how elites are confronted with different models (national, sub-national, supra-national, and international) of the territorial organization of political life. Third, it analyzes the relationship between elites and institutional forms of politics and, finally, the interactions between the collective dimension of political elites and individual figures such as leaders who may emerge both from within elites and outside of them.

Maurizio Cotta
36. Elite Circulation and Stability

The chapter starts from a short review of the classical contributions on elites’ circulation and stability, and then deals with how these concepts have been treated and applied in the study of transformations to representative democracy during the twentieth century. An updated assessment of the empirical studies dealing with different aspects of elite circulation is offered, focusing on research questions concerning quantitative and qualitative elite turnover, elite stability, and the strictly connected notions of political career and party professionalism. A final section examines current research on the dynamics of elite circulation and looks at the new challenges posed to political elites in times of democratic crisis and public mistrust, which seem to raise innovative and fascinating questions about the capability of ruling elites to persist or to accelerate the pace of their continuous transformation.

Luca Verzichelli
37. Democratization: The Role of Elites

After having recalled the essential features of real-existing democracies (REDs), the chapter discusses different modes of democratization and the role of political elites in these processes. The special nature of transitional situations and the greater freedom of action they allow for elites are highlighted. The relationships between political elites and other actors (such as the military, religious and ethnic groups, and the bourgeoisie) are then explored showing also how they have changed over time.

Philippe C. Schmitter
38. Sub-national Political Elites

The diffusion of multi-level political arrangements in formerly unitary states has recently led to numerous studies being conducted of sub-national political elites, in addition to those devoted to traditional federal states. Most of these studies have focused on the formation of regional political classes distinct from national ones, and on the emergence of alternative career paths to the traditional, unidirectional bottom-up pattern. More recently, the influence of different career paths on the attitudes and behavior of legislators has also been hypothesized. However, while political science has made significant progress in analyzing and describing multi-level career patterns, much remains to be done in regard to the explanations for such patterns and their consequences.

Filippo Tronconi
39. Elites or Leadership? Opposite or Complementary Paradigms?

This chapter discusses the relationship between elite theory and leadership theory. After having highlighted some of the historical reasons for the birth of elite theory, it continues to discuss the different perspective on politics shared by the studies of leadership initiated by Max Weber and the growing importance of their key concept in contemporary times. It addresses then the question to what extent it is possible to overcome the apparent lack of dialogue between the two paradigms and find a fruitful integration between them.

Jean Blondel
40. Political Elites Beyond the Nation State

The configuration of political elites reflects the basic configuration of the dominant political order. The prevailing nation- state model in the last two centuries has produced a nationalization of political elites. The weaknesses of the state model and the increasing importance today of international and supranational forms of governance have opened the space to new internationalized and supranational elites. Their configurations, patterns of recruitment and careers, resources, and their relationships with national elites are increasingly important topics to understand the functioning of contemporary politics.

Maurizio Cotta
Backmatter
Metadata
Title
The Palgrave Handbook of Political Elites
Editors
Prof. Dr. Heinrich Best
John Higley
Copyright Year
2018
Electronic ISBN
978-1-137-51904-7
Print ISBN
978-1-137-51903-0
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-51904-7