Is Socialization to Representation the Reason of Distrust? Untangling the Local Elected Officials’ Attitudes Towards Democratic Innovations

While the field of research on citizens' political preferences has largely developed, the relationship of elected officials to democracy has not been finely conceptualized enough (Petit et al., 2022). If the reluctance of political elites towards the inclusion of citizens in the decision process seems demonstrated, “the reasons behind” this attitude remain largely unexplored (Koskimaa et al., 2023, p. 5). This paper tests the hypothesis of socialization to representation as a maker of distrust through a mixed methods investigation on local elected officials in France and Italy. The quantitative exploitation of data from an original survey on around 1500 representative confirms that the position of power but also the experience of elected officials predicts their opposition to democratic innovations. The qualitative treatment of 92 face-to-face interviews then provides the information necessary to understand how entering the function of representation transforms their vision of citizens and politicians and fosters their support of the political status quo.