Heinrich Best

Parliamentary representatives in Europe 1848-2000 : legislative recruitment and careers in eleven European countries

Elite Transformation and Modes of Representation since the Mid-Nineteenth Century: Some Theoretical Considerations The Incremental Transformation of the Danish Legislative Elite: The Party System as Prime Mover Professional and Expert Representation: Recruitment of the Parliamentary Elite in Finland since 1863 Detours to Modernity: Long Term Trends of Parliamentary Recruitment in Republican France 1848-1999 Challenges, Failures and Final Success: The Winding Path of German Parliamentary Leadership Groups toward a Structurally Integrated Elite 1848-1999 Belated Professionalisation of Parliamentary Elites: Hungary 1848-1997 Parliamentary Elite Transformations along the Discontinuous Road of Democratisation: Italy 1861-1999 Representatives of the Dutch People: The Smooth Transformation of the Parliamentary Elite in a Consociational Democracy Democratisation and Parliamentary Elite Recruitment in Norway 1848-1996 Political Recruitment and Elite Transformation in Modern Portugal 1870-1999: The Late Arrival of Mass Representation Spanish Diputados: From the 1876 Restoration to Consolidated Democracy Continuity and Change: Legislative Recruitment in the United Kingdom 1868-1999 Between Professionalisation and Democratisation: A Synoptic View on the Making of the European Representative

The Europe of elites : a study into the Europeanness of Europe's political and economic elites

Contents: 1 Introduction: European integration as an elite project, Heinrich Best, Gyorgy Lengyel, and Luca Verzichelli; 2 Europe a la carte? European citizenship and its dimensions from the perspective of national elites, Maurizio Cotta and Federico Russo; 3 Ready to run Europe? Perspectives of a supranational career among EU national elites, Nikolas Hube and Luca Verzichelli; 4 National elites’ preferences on the Europeanization of policy making, Jose Real-Dato, Borbala Goncz, and Gyorgy Lengyel; 5 The other side of European identity: elite perceptions of threats to a cohesive Europe, Irmina Matonyte and Vaidas Morkevicius; 6 Elites’ views on European institutions: national experiences sifted through ideological orientations, Daniel Gaxie and Nicolas Hube; 7 Patterns of regional diversity in political elites’ attitudes, Mladen Lazic, Miguel Jerez-Mir, Vladimir Vuletic, and Rafael Vazquez-Garcia; 8 The elites–masses gap in European integration, Wolfgang C. Muller, Marcelo Jenny, and Alejandro Ecker; 9 Party elites and the domestic discourse on the EU, Nicolo Conti; 10 Elite foundations of European integration: a causal analysis, Heinrich Best; 11 Elites of Europe and the Europe of elites: a conclusion, Heinrich Best; 12 Appendix. Surveying elites: information on the study design and field report of the IntUne elite survey, Gyorgy Lengyel and Stefan Jahr.

Does Personality Matter in Politics? Personality Factors as Determinants of Parliamentary Recruitment and Policy Preferences

[Abstract This article inquires into the impact of personality factors on the selection and self-selection of parliamentary elites. I compare personality profiles of German MPs and the German population obtained through survey research, and for some comparisons I utilize elite and mass samples matched for education, gender, and age. I ask further if MPs’ personalities have an impact on their preferences for expansionist or restricted government budgets and welfare state benefits, the extension or limitation of civic rights, and several other policies. Party affiliations of MPs are used as a control variable. I find that MPs’ personality traits differ strikingly from those of the German population and from those of followers in most of the parties with which MPs are affiliated., AbstractThis article inquires into the impact of personality factors on the selection and self-selection of parliamentary elites. I compare personality profiles of German MPs and the German population obtained through survey research, and for some comparisons I utilize elite and mass samples matched for education, gender, and age. I ask further if MPs’ personalities have an impact on their preferences for expansionist or restricted government budgets and welfare state benefits, the extension or limitation of civic rights, and several other policies. Party affiliations of MPs are used as a control variable. I find that MPs’ personality traits differ strikingly from those of the German population and from those of followers in most of the parties with which MPs are affiliated.]

Editorial: Agency and human development in times of social change

This selection of papers deals, broadly speaking, with the role of social change in human development. Put in other words, these papers investigate the impact of contextual dynamics on human adaptation, a prime topic of all life-span psychology. They were written by two psychologists and two sociologists—by training, we should add, as readers will easily find out that the approaches and methods taken are interdisciplinary in nature. The papers are special in many regards. The foremost speciality probably pertains to the outcome variables studied—occupational, and sometimes more specifically economic, attainment and mobility. This is obviously a rather circumscribed domain of behaviour, but one of utmost importance in two respects. First, occupational attainment and mobility represent pivots of adult socialization that branch out to virtually all aspects of psychosocial development and are influenced by the contextual constraints people live with, such as the prosperity of the economic situation. The latter leads us directly to the second aspect: The phenomena of social change addressed in the papers are alike in that they have a profound

History Matters: Dimensions and Determinants of National Identities among European Populations and Elites

DISCUSSIONS OF MASS, GROUP, OR COLLECTIVE IDENTITY tend to be characterised by an abundance of theoretical and conceptual disputes and a relative lack of empirical foundation; in particular there is a lack of comparative studies based on systematic and reliable data (Bruter 2005, pp. 101–09). The dominant paradigm for both sociological and socio-psychological studies of mass identity is the constructivist approach. This emphasises, to varying degrees, the invented and constructed character of mass identity as opposed to essentialist understandings of the concept which assume a unique core or essence of identity (Scott & Marshall 2009, pp. 330–33). It is evident that any research following the constructivist approach requires clearly specified and carefully defined indicators targeting the determinants and dynamics of the underlying processes of identity formation for collectivities in various contexts. Because such data are difficult and costly to obtain, studies of the emergence of mass identities are usually based on insecure empirical grounds. It is therefore of specific relevance for the study of mass identity that the Intune project has provided a rich supply of data on the formation of mass identities in 18 European states, applying a multitude of indicators which specifically target the process of identity formation at elite level and in the general population. The present study scrutinises the hypothesis that the ‘invention’ or ‘construction’ of mass identities is not an arbitrary process of first composing and then imposing a narrative of ‘sameness’, ‘belongingness’ or ‘common destiny’ to some population, but that it is constrained and directed by specific historical givens and experiences shaping the collective memories and conditions of living of the same population. When it comes to national identities I assume that it is the processes of state formation and nation building that leave a specific and inextinguishable trace in the collective mind. Liah Greenfield (1992, p. 17) has pointed to the fact that ‘the adjustment of the idea of the nation to the situational constraints of the relevant agents involves its conceptualisation in terms of indigenous traditions’. This conceptualisation further distinguishes every national identity and ‘makes national identity a matter of historical

The Transformation of Legislative Elites: The Cases of Britain and Germany since the 1860s

Drawing on databases going back to the middle of the nineteenth century, this article examines how changes in the opportunity structures in political recruitment have influenced the socio-economic backgrounds and career patterns of British and German MPs. Extending opportunity structures enables legislatures to respond to socio-economic changes in society, but there may be a significant time-lag before they are reflected in the legislature. In spite of significant differences in their political history, there has been a convergence of socio-economic backgrounds and career patterns, driven largely by changes in the opportunity structures, which, particularly in the German case, preceded the full impact of changes in political culture. This convergence does not preclude significant differences, but these are principally the product of particular factors, such as party and electoral systems, and changes do not necessarily occur simultaneously, but the tendency towards similar educational and occupational backgrounds and similar career patterns remains.

Der langfristige Wandel politischer Eliten in Europa 1867–2000: Auf dem Weg der Konvergenz?

In seiner beruhmten Vorhersage des Untergangs der kommunistischen Staatsund Gesellschaftsordnung im Wettbewerb der Systeme begrundete Talcott Parsons die Uberlegenheit der reprasentativen Demokratie mit einem im Kern elitentheoretischen Argument: „Nicht die allgemeine Legitimierung von Macht und Herrschaft ist die besondere Leistung demokratischer Institutionen, sondern die Vermittlung von Konsensus uber die Ausubung von Macht und Herrschaft durch ganz bestimmte Personen und Gruppen ...; keine Institution, die sich von den demokratischen Institutionen grundlegend unterscheidet, ist zu dieser Leistung in der Lage.“ (Parsons 1979: 70; Hervorheb. i. Orig.) Sein Argument hat einen vermutlich nicht nur zufalligen Anklang an Max Webers Gedanken, dass der entscheidende Vorteil der reprasentativen Demokratie gegenuber anderen Formen der Machtorganisation ein nach rigoroser Auslese in einem Konkurrenzkampf um die Macht mit „ausgepragten politischen Fuhrungsqualitaten“ ausgestattetes politisches Personal sei (1972: 852). Die politische Klasse ist demnach eine marktbedingte Klasse besonderer Art (Weber 1972: 180), wobei Demokratisierung eine Marktoffnung, die Zulassung neuer Anbieter und Nachfrager im Konkurrenzkampf um die Macht bedeutet.

The Elite–Population Gap in the Formation of Political Identities. A Cross-Cultural Investigation

THERE IS A WIDELY SHARED UNDERSTANDING THAT MASS political identities are powerful social forces which define the makeup of and the relationship between large collectivities. They translate cognitive and normative concepts of group formation into dispositions of behaviour towards those who are considered to belong to the in-group as against a wide array of more or less significant others (Brewer 1999; Citrin & Sides 2004; Eisenstadt & Giesen 1995; Greenfield 1999; Wendt 1994). In his later writings Max Weber (1978) emphasised the ‘constructed’ nature of mass political identities in that the ‘concept of ‘‘nation’’ . . . cannot be stated in terms of empirical qualities common to those who count as members of the nation. [It] means above all that it is proper to expect from certain groups a specific sentiment of solidarity in the face of other groups’ (Weber 1978, p. 922). He also maintained that the ‘concept ‘‘nation’’ directs us to political power. [It] refers us to a specific kind of pathos which is linked to the idea of a powerful political community [that] may already exist or may be desired’ (Weber 1978, p. 398). With his rejection of ‘common empirical qualities’ as generative mechanisms underlying the ‘concept of nation’ and his reference to expectations and sentiments, Max Weber presented himself as a ‘constructivist’ avant la lettre. Whereas an essentialist understanding maintains a unique core or essence of mass identities based on ethnic origins, ‘authentic’ cultural traditions or inborn qualities of a given population, a constructivist understanding emphasises the constructed or invented character of mass identities (Anderson 1991; Gellner 1983; Hobsbawm 1990; Hogg & Abrams 1999). Constructivism also implies a creative and guiding role for elites in first composing and then imposing the concepts of sameness, belongingness and common destiny or purpose that are at the core of collective identities. Pushed to its extremity, constructivism suggests a perfect asymmetry between elites and the general population in that elites do all the composing and imposing in the process of mass identity formation, while the general population is exclusively at the adaptative and receptive end of the same process. EUROPE-ASIA STUDIES Vol. 63, No. 6, August 2011, 995–1009

Prozeß-produzierte Daten als empirisches Material für eine Soziologie des realen Sozialismus

Das Ende des Staatssozialismus in Europa und seine Transformation zur Konkurrenzdemokratie und marktwirtschaftlichen Ordnung hat die Sozialwissenschaften vor eine zweifache Herausforderung gestellt, die sie wohl noch fur einige Zeit beschaftigen wird: zum einen die Erforschung des Ubergangs zwischen grundlegend unterschiedlichen Sozialordnungen, zum anderen die retrospektive Rekonstruktion des „realen Sozialismus“, dessen Untergang erstmals einen weitgehend freien Zugang zu den verfugbaren Wissensquellen und Datenbestanden fur seine empirische Analyse eroffnet hat. Beide Aufgaben stehen in einem systematischen Zusammenhang, denn die Endphase des Staatssozialismus bildete die Ausgangskonfiguration fur die nachfolgenden Transformationsprozesse. Andererseits gilt jedoch, das dieser Zusanunenhang nicht die Eigenstandigkeit beider Forschungsaufgaben aufzulosen vermag, denn die postsozialistische Transformation geht offenkundig uber eine blose Umbildung des Ende der 1980er Jahre in Ost- und Ostmitteleuropa bestehenden Zustandes hinaus, wahrend der Staatssozialismus nicht nur von seinem Ende und Ubergang her begriffen werden kann.1 Er bildete einen besonderen Gesellschaftstyp, mit einer spezifischen Machtorganisation, eigenen Legitimationsfiguren, Strukturformen, Reproduktionsmechanismen und Kommunikationsweisen, bei unterschiedlichen Anpassungen an die gesellschaftlichen Gegebenheiten, denen er nach 1945 oktroyiert worden war. Man beginge deshalb einen „Fehlschlus des retrospektiven Determinismus“,2 wurde man die Systemgeschichte des Staatssozialismus ausschlieslich von seinem Untergang her rekonstruieren.

“Disorder Yields to Order Fair the Place”: The emergence of political parties in Western and Central Europe

SUMMARY In this article Professor Best writes as a social scientist interested in how historical data can be used statistically to test hypotheses about conflict structures. The study uses the voting data from the two Constituent Assemblies of 1848 in Paris and Frankfurt to test alternative theories about the development of conflict in democratic assemblies elected on universal male suffrage. One predicts that free elections would naturally generate complex conflict structures, the other that they would generate polarity around opposite extremes. The statistical model employed suggests that in these assemblies, where the basic issue was between the status quo and change, the pattern that emerged was one of polarisation.