Elites and Citizens: Leadership, Responsiveness, or Distance?

Abstract: The analysis of elite-citizen relations is structured by at least two distinctive approaches. On the one hand, scholars center their research on the responsible-party model, which is conceived as policy-mandate approach to representation. On the other hand, elite-centered approaches deny the possibility of any kind of mandate for political elites but have focused on elite-mass differences concerning the perception and evaluation of democratic politics and institutions. If we consider the multiple linkages between policies and politics/polities, both strands of research investigate the conditions and patterns of elite-citizens interactions. However, their theoretical approaches, empirical concepts and results are only loosely connected. Thus, the aim of the proposed section is to foster exchange and mutual stimulation. The panels address questions about the direction of influence (leadership, responsiveness), (in-)congruence of conceptions of democracy, mutual perceptions and (dis-)trust. Heinrich Best (Chair): Professor and Chair of Empirical Research and Analysis of Social Structures at the Institute of Sociology, University of Jena (Germany). He served as Director of the Collaborative Research Centre 580 “Social Developments in Post-Socialist Societies: Discontinuities, Tradition, and Structural Formation” (Jena/Halle, Germany) and as a Co-Director of the scientific network “European Political Elites in Comparative Perspective” (EurElite). He is chair of the Executive Council of the IPSA Research Committee on Political Elites (RC2). His research interests are in the field of elite research, methods of empirical research, political and historical sociology. His most recent books are Parliamentary Representatives in Europe 1848-2000. Legislative Recruitment and Careers in Eleven European Countries (co-edited with M. Cotta; Oxford University Press, 2000), Democratic Representation in Europe. Diversity, Change and Convergence (co-edited with M. Cotta; Oxford University Press, 2007), Democratic Elitism: New Theoretical and Comparative Perspectives (co-edited with J. Higley; Brill, 2010), and The Europe of Elites: A Study into Europeanness of Europe’s Political and Economic Elites (co-edited with G. Lengyel and L. Verzichelli; Oxford University Press, 2012). He has published i.a. in Journal of Legislative Studies, Comparative Sociology, Europe-Asia Studies, Historical Social Research, Historische Zeitschrift, Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie, Politische Vierteljahresschrift and numerous edited volumes. Jacques Thomassen (Co-Chair): Jacques Thomassen is professor emeritus of political science at the University of Twente and a member of the Netherlands Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was a visiting scholar at the universities of Michigan, Harvard and Mannheim, the European University Institute and the Australian National University. He had a leading position in several national and international research programs. He was a founding member and first chair of the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES).His main research interests are in democratic theory, political representation, electoral behaviour and legitimacy. He is author and editor of numerous publications including The European Voter (Oxford University Press 2005), The Legitimacy of the European Union after Enlargement (Oxford University Press 2009), Political Representation and European Union Governance (with Peter Mair) (Routledge 2011) and Elections and Democracy. Representation and Accountability (Oxford University Press 2014)