Democratic Representation in Europe: Diversity, Change and convergence explores representation as a core element of democracies in the modern era. Over the past 150 years parliamentary representation has developed into a main link between polity and society, and parliamentary representatives have come to form the nucleus of political elites. The twenty authors of the 16 chapters follow a comparative and empirical approach by exploiting the unique longitudinal data-base of the EURELITE project, which has gathered standardized evidence about the structures of parliamentary representation in 11 European countries and their development over time; in many countries over 160 years.
Following on from an earlier book by the same editors (Parliamentary Representatives in Europe 1848-2000.) which focused on trends in single European countries, Democratic Representation in Europe pursues a trans-national approach by comparing the mechanisms and modes of parliamentary recruitment and career formation between the main party families and various categories of the population in European societies. Such cross-national analyses, which include a longitudinal account of female representation throughout modern European parliamentary history, have not been attempted before. The book concludes with longitudinal in-depth analyses of cleavage representation in European parliamentary history and of the impact of the institutional factor on political elites' transformations.
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Maurizio Cotta is Professor of Political Science and Comparative Politics at the University of Siena. Luca Verzichelli is Associate Professor of Political Science and Italian Politics at the University of Siena.
Heinrich Best is a Professor of Sociology at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena.
Verona Christmas is a Research Associate at the University of Jena, Germany.
Valerie Cromwell is an honorary Fellow of the Institute of Historical Research at the School of Advanced Study in the University of London, having been Director of the History of Parliament, 1991-2001.
Kjell A Eliassen is Professor of Public Management and Director of the Centre for European and Asian Studies at the Norwegian School of Management - BI in Oslo and professor of European Studies at The Free University in Brussels.
Stefaan Fiers is Assistant Professor of Comparative Politics and Director of the teaching training programme in social sciences at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium.
Daniel Gaxie is a political sociologist and Professor of political science at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. He has conducted extensive research on political participation, attitudes and behaviour, elites, institutions and public policies. As well as his involvement in the INTUNE and Eurelites projects he is known for his book Le cens caché (The Hidden Disfranchisement) first published in 1978.
Laurent Godmer is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Marne-la-Vallée, Paris.
Gabriella Ilonszki is Professor of Political Science at Corvinus University of Budapest. Her English language publications include three edited volumes: Opposition Parties in European Legislatures: Conflict or Consensus (with Elisabetta De Giorgi, Routledge, 2018), Post-Communist Parliaments: Change and Stability in the Second Decade (with D.M. Olson, Routledge, 2012), and Perceptions of the European Union in New Member States: A Comparative Perspective (Routledge, 2010). She has published articles in journals such as the Journal of Legislative Studies, East European Politics, Europe-Asia Studies, the Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics. She has also authored several chapters in volumes on representation, parliamentary government and political elite, gender, areas that constitute her main research interest.
Miguel Jerez Mir is Professor of Political Science at the University of Granada.
Ulrik Kiaer is Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science at the University of Southern Denmark.
Juan J Linz is Sterling Professor of Political Science at Yale University.
Carmen Ortega is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Granada.
Mogens N Pedersen is Professor of Political Science at the University of Southern Denmark at Odense.
Ilka Ruostetsari is Professor of Political Science at the University of Tampere, Finland.
Michael Rush is Emeritus Politics Professor at the University of Exeter
Ineke Secker is Lecturer in Constitutional and Parliamentary History at Leiden University, the Netherlands.
Pedro Tavares de Almeida is Professor in the Departamento de Estudos Políticos of the Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa
Filippo Tronconi is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Bologna.
Luca Verzichelli is Professor of Political Science at the Centre for the Study of Political Change (CIRCaP, University of Siena). His academic interests cover the field of comparative political institutions, political elite and budgetary politics.
