Democratising Political Recruitment

Abstract

Political recruitment is renowned for being a “secret garden”, where political elites are anointed by small selectorates. However, the processes of political recruitment and candidate selection already vary widely from one country to another, and even between parties within the same polity. Criticisms of opaque and exclusive selection procedures, resulting in the self-reproduction of narrow elites, have led to attempts to democratise and diversify political recruitment. One such measure has been to involve a greater number of people in the selection process, either through more inclusive selection processes within political parties or through the use of open primaries. Expanding the size of selectorates can increase the legitimacy of (and satisfaction with) the selection outcome, provide an incentive for people to become members of a political party, and produce a candidate with broad appeal. In addition to democratising the process of selection, another means of opening up political recruitment to a more diverse body is through the introduction of quotas and other positive action measures. Quotas have been taken up in some form in scores of countries around the world. They facilitate the inclusion of a more diverse range of candidates, even though the implementation of quotas may actually hinder the use of a more free and transparent selection process. This panel considers developments in political recruitment to determine the extent to which the process has become more inclusive. The democratic benefits and potential pitfalls of efforts to democratise recruitment will be reviewed. Papers are welcomed which focus on the electoral and organisational consequences for political parties of more diverse candidate selection procedures. We also encourage papers that consider the tension between the wish to increase involvement by party members and the public in the selection process, and the desire to ensure adequate selection of under-represented groups.

Title	Details
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