Career Patterns in Multi-Level Systems

Abstract

Processes of political professionalisation at the local and regional level together with newly established regional and supranational tiers of government have strongly affected the structure of opportunities for professional politicians. Political careers are no longer directed exclusively to the national level (if they ever were). Instead of unidirectional, hierarchically organised career ladders with a clear (national) apex, political careers may be pursued in different territorial arenas, linked in different ways. With some time lag, scholars of political careers are currently beginning to come to terms with the multi-level character of political systems. Yet while some old conventional assumptions have been rightly relegated to the dustbin, they have not yet been replaced by new certainties about the complex pathways political careers may take. What different multi-level pathways can be found? How can we best identify these newly emerging career patterns? How can we account for the huge variance across regions and countries? Do these different career patterns matter? Questions like these have been addressed in recent studies, but they have hardly been solved. In this panel we thus aim to bring together scholars dealing with these questions. Papers might focus on empirical questions, both in traditional federal systems (US, Australia, Canada, Germany etc.) as well as in newly regionalised countries (Italy, Spain, France, Belgium, UK etc.). In addition we strongly encourage scholars to submit papers dealing with theoretical or methodological questions.

Title	Details
Through the Party, Through an Office – Or Both? A Typology of Parliamentary Candidates in Multilevel Switzerland	View Paper Details
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Identifying and Explaining Career Patterns in Multi-Level Democracies. A Comparative Analysis of Catalonia, Quebec, Scotland and Wallonia	View Paper Details
Career Moves and Candidate Selection in a German Town: The Local Roots of Multi-Level Careers	View Paper Details