Lars Vogel - The Contested Status of Political Elites

Contemporary Western societies are witnessing ground-breaking social, economic, and political changes at an accelerating pace. These changes are challenging the way democracy works and the role that political elites play in this system of government.

Using a theoretical and empirical approach, this volume argues that political elites are urged to develop new strategies in order to achieve interest aggregation, to safeguard collective action, and to maintain elite autonomy and stability. The adaptive capacities of political elites are assessed through case studies, comparative and longitudinal analyses of their social structure, their recruitment patterns, and their attitudes. The book includes contributions from reputable scholars in the field of elite research and specialists on individual political systems across Europe and the US. It provides an analytical framework demonstrating that political elites are inevitable and potentially able to respond successfully to varying challenges.

The book will be of key interest to scholars and students of political elites, democracy, comparative politics, political participation, and European Politics.

Lars Vogel is a Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Department of Political Science, Leipzig University, Germany.

Ronald Gebauer is Acting Professor of Methods of Empirical Social Research at the University of Applied Sciences Zittau/Grlitz, Germany.

Axel Salheiser is Research Fellow at KomRexCenter for Research on Right-Wing Extremism, Civic Education and Social Integration at Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany.

Routledge Research on Social and Political Elites

Series Editors: Keith Dowding

and

Patrick Dumont

Australian National University, Australia

Who are the elites that run the world? This series of books analyses who the elites are, how they rise and fall, the networks in which they operate and the effects they have on our lives.

Party Members and Activists

Edited by Emilie van Haute and Anika Gauja

Political Representation

Roles, Representatives and the Represented

Edited by Marc Bhlmann and Jan Fivaz

Ministerial Survival during Political and Cabinet Change

Foreign Affairs, Diplomacy and War

Alejandro Quiroz Flores

Government Formation and Minister Turnover in Presidential Cabinets

Comparative Analysis in the Americas

Edited by Marcelo Camerlo and Cecilia Martnez-Gallardo

The Selection of Politicians in Times of Crisis

Edited by Xavier Coller, Guillermo Cordero, and Antonio M. Jaime-Castillo

National Political Elites, European Integration and the Eurozone Crisis

Edited by Nicol Conti, Borbla Gncz and Jos Real-Dato

Semi-presidentialism, Parliamentarism and Presidents

Presidential Politics in Central Europe

Milo Brunclk and Michal Kubt

The Contested Status of Political Elites

At the Crossroads

Edited by Lars Vogel, Ronald Gebauer and Axel Salheiser

For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/Routledge-Research-on-Social-and-Political-Elites/book-series/RRSPE

At the Crossroads

Edited by Lars Vogel, Ronald Gebauer and Axel Salheiser

First published 2019

by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge

711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2019 selection and editorial matter, Lars Vogel, Ronald Gebauer and Axel Salheiser; individual chapters, the contributors

The right of Lars Vogel, Ronald Gebauer and Axel Salheiser to be identified as the authors of the editorial matter, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

A catalog record has been requested for this book

ISBN: 978-0-415-79215-8 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-315-21191-6 (ebk)

Typeset in Times New Roman

by Wearset Ltd, Boldon, Tyne and Wear

Heinrich Best is Senior Professor of Sociology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany.

Jens Borchert is Professor of Political Science, Frankfurt University, Germany.

Jean-Pascal Daloz is Research Professor CNRS/SAGE, University of Strasbourg, France, and Visiting Fellow, Centre for Cultural Sociology, Yale University, USA.

Daniel Gaxie is Professor of Political Sociology and Methodology, European Center for Sociology and Political Science, Paris 1 University (Panthon-Sorbonne), Paris, France.

Ronald Gebauer is Acting Professor of Methods of Empirical Social Research, University of Applied Sciences Zittau/Grlitz. Germany.

John Higley is Emeritus Professor of Political Science, University of Austin, Texas, USA.

Ursula Hoffmann-Lange is Professor of Political Science, Otto Friedrich University Bamberg, Germany.

Gabriella Ilonszki is Professor of Political Science, Corvinus University Budapest, Hungary.

Mindaugas Kuklys is Political Scientist, Flensburg, Germany.

Gyrgy Lengyel is Professor of Political Science, Corvinus University Budapest, Hungary.

Axel Salheiser is Research Fellow at KomRexCenter for Research on Right-Wing Extremism, Civic Education and Social Integration, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany.

Elena Semenova is Researcher at Otto Suhr Institute of Political Science, Freie Universitt Berlin, Germany.

Laureniu tefan is Senior Researcher at the Center for Public Policies at the West University of Timioara, Romania.

Luca Verzichelli is Professor of Public Policy Analysis and Italian Politics, University of Siena, Italy.

Lars Vogel is Post-Doctoral Researcher, Department of Political Science, Leipzig University, Germany.

The starting point for this book goes back to a symposium entitled Farewell to the elites? This symposium was funded by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation and took place in Jena, Germany, in Autumn 2014. It was held on the occasion of the retirement of Heinrich Best, to whom and to whose work on elites this volume is dedicated. Throughout his academic career, Heinrich Best has made major contributions to the comparative study of both political elites and elites from other sectors. He played a pivotal role in the establishment of collaborative international and national data-collection projects and research networks such as