Cursus Honorum: Personal Background, Careers and Experience of Political Leaders in Democracy and Dictatorship—New Data and Analyses

Baturo, Alexander

doi:10.17645/pag.v4i2.602

Cited by 28 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Do markets trust technocrat finance ministers and are technocrats able to shorten the economic impact of the economic crises? Scholars have started to investigate the role of individuals in policy making (Alexiadou 2016;Baturo 2016;Pinto et al 2017), but there is still a lot to be done. anonymous reviewers and the EJPR editors for their most helpful suggestions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Commitment or expertise? Technocratic appointments as political responses to economic crises

Alexiadou

Günaydın

2019

European J Political Res

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Why do prime ministers or presidents appoint non‐elected experts, also known as technocrats, during economic crises? Do they appoint them for their expertise or for their commitment to pro‐market reforms? Answering this question is crucial for understanding and predicting the longer‐term role of technocrats in democracies. With the aid of unique data on the political and personal background of finance ministers in 13 parliamentary and semi‐presidential European democracies this article shows that commitment, not expertise is the primary driver of technocratic appointments during major economic crises. Technocrats are preferred over experienced politicians when the latter lack commitment to policy reform. An important implication of the findings is that technocratic appointments to top economic portfolios in West European countries are unlikely to become the norm outside economic crises, assuming economic crises are short‐lived and not recurring.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Commitment or expertise? Technocratic appointments as political responses to economic crises

Alexiadou

Günaydın

2019

European J Political Res

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“…The amount of political experience necessary to access power is sometimes considerable, which would then explain the overrepresentation of aging leaders. According to Baturo's (2016) data, the average political leader in the contemporary period enters office after having spent some 15 years in politics. This average—which encompasses for example military dictators, who have less political experience, and monarchs, who can access power at a very young age—masks important variations, and it probably takes longer to enter government in most democracies.…”

Section: The Longevity Effectmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gerontocracy in a comparative perspective: Explaining why political leaders are (almost always) older than their constituents

Magni-Berton

Panel

2020

Sociology Compass

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Gerontocracy, in its narrowest sense, refers to political systems ruled by elderly people, whether de jure or de facto. Although formal gerontocratic rules are progressively disappearing, contemporary political systems are still governed by individuals who are significantly older than the mean voter. This article reviews existing explanations for the prevalence of gerontocracy. To summarize main findings, gerontocracy cannot be explained by the leadership qualities of older rulers: aging leaders do not perform better in office and voters seem to be aware of it. Instead, existing research suggests that gerontocracy can be explained by strategic considerations. In autocracies, the selectorate tends to choose aging leaders in order to reduce their expected tenure length. In democracies, voters are more likely to select experienced candidates, which they expect to be more effective at advancing the interests of their constituency: this premium put on experience mechanically lengthens political careers and increases the age of the average politician. Finally, older voters, which participate more in politics, tend to prefer older politicians, because they (correctly) expect them to better defend their own interests.

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“…Moreover, recent data about political leaders' profiles in democracies and autocracies have been collected. It has been observed that democratic leaders differ from leaders in autocratic regimes and that there are also significant variations between autocracies (Baturo, 2016). These findings eventually prompt us to include country factors in explanations of political careers, yet within the approach I suggest here.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

Approaches and lessons in political career research: Babel or pieces of a patchwork?

Vercesi

2018

Rev. Esp. Cienc. Polít.

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Political careers are a classic subject of elite studies. Scholars have sought to understand what affects political profiles and career patterns' formation. However, political career research is characterized by a variety of approaches and explanations, which often do not communicate each other. A framework that integrates existing contributions is lacking, and this undermines the process of accumulation of knowledge. A comprehensive assessment of the literature is necessary in view of this potentially welcomed undertaking. After a conceptual introduction, I provide here a general overview of the approaches used in political career research, classifiable into two main schools. It is stressed their theoretical arguments, methodological strategies, and deficits. The note will provide bases for developing further the research field, by underling epistemological, theoretical, and methodological lessons. ResumenLas carreras políticas son un tema clásico en los estudios de las elites. Los investigadores han intentado entender qué influye sobre los perfiles políticos y la formación de los patrones de carrera. Sin embargo, la investigación sobre las carreras políticas se caracteriza por una variedad de enfoques y explicaciones que con frecuencia no se comunican entre sí. La falta de un marco que integre las contribuciones existentes mina el proceso de acumulación de conocimiento. En vistas de asumir esta tarea, es necesaria una evaluación comprensiva de la literatura. Después de Michelangelo VercesiRevista Española de Ciencia Política. Núm. 48. Noviembre 2018, pp. 183-206 una introducción conceptual, se ofrece aquí un panorama general de los enfoques utilizados en la investigación sobre carreras políticas, que pueden clasificarse en dos "escuelas" principales. Se subrayan sus argumentos teóricos, estrategias metodológicas, y carencias. Esta nota de investigación proveerá bases para el futuro desarrollo de este campo de investigación, subrayando lecciones epistemológicas, teóricas y metodológicas.Palabras clave: elites políticas, carreras políticas, enfoques teóricos, caminos hacia el poder, reclutamiento político.

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Cursus Honorum: Personal Background, Careers and Experience of Political Leaders in Democracy and Dictatorship—New Data and Analyses

Cited by 28 publications

References 27 publications

Commitment or expertise? Technocratic appointments as political responses to economic crises

Commitment or expertise? Technocratic appointments as political responses to economic crises

Gerontocracy in a comparative perspective: Explaining why political leaders are (almost always) older than their constituents

Approaches and lessons in political career research: Babel or pieces of a patchwork?

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