The Political Recruitment in Multilevel European Democracies

Abstract

The objective of this panel is to focus the multilevel political recruitment in European countries which attracts an increasing interest by scholars. The sociology of this form of recruitment includes, on the one hand, the study of careers of national elected representatives through the paths of representatives at local and regional level and, on the other hand, the study of new forms of political career linked to the institutional transformations of European democracies (such as processes of devolution). The main questions that the panel tries to address are the following: to what extent does the "classic" career model, which provides for a gradual transition from the ‘bottom’ to the ‘top’ (from local to national); is this model predominant in every national context? To what extent are political careers at sub-national levels (i. e. regional parliaments) an alternative to national careers? To what extent the national parliament or the national government are the culmination of a political career? Have outsiders (lacking of political experience) better chance in a context of an increasing mediatisation of politics? Senior and junior scholars are invited to submit theoretical and empirical papers adopting either a case study or a comparative perspective with a synchronic or diachronic approach.