Assessing the Effects of the Preferences and Trajectories of Political Elites

The personalisation of politics has contributed to a revival of interest in studies of individual actors in political processes and outcomes. Political elites receive more media attention. This monitoring may be welcome since depending on their position in the policy-making process, individuals can indeed personally impact on decisions regarding public policy and institutions. It is therefore important to tease out the conditions under which such a personal effect is observable, as well as how individual policy preferences, expertise, experience and career trajectories make it more likely. In addition, the very notion of accountability which is the centrepiece of representative democracy is likely to have evolved with this trend of personalisation. Not only is it therefore important to document elites turnover, its causes and consequences, but also learn more about how these individuals perceive their role in and evaluate democratic processes. Chairs: Patrick Dumont, University of Luxembourg (patrick.dumont@uni.lu) His research on governments and political elites has been published in many journals such as European Journal of Political Research, European Union Politics, Public Choice, etc. Since 2012 he co-edits the ‘Routledge Research on Political and Social Elites’ book series. Eoin O’Malley, Dublin City University (eoin.omalley@dcu.ie) His research on prime ministers and Irish politics has been published in many journals including European Political Science Review, International Political Science Review, Democratization, and Government and Opposition among others. He is author of a textbook (Palgrave 2011) and co-editor of two other books on Irish politics. Experience: Dumont was co-chair of the section ‘The Emergence of Global Elites’ (section 35) at the ECPR General Conference in Reykjavik, 2011 and co-chair of panels in other general conferences (these SEPEDE-sponsored panels attracted a high number of quality paper proposals). They were also workshop directors at the ECPR Joint Sessions (respectively in 2005, 2007 and 2014). Participation potential: the co-chairs are respectively co-founder and original member of the ‘Selection and Deselection of Political Elites’ network (see http://sedepe.net), which organized dozens of activities (at ECPR events, at other international and national associations large conferences as well as SEDEPE members’ project-specific meetings) since its birth in 2005 at the ECPR Granada Joint Sessions. The network now relies on 160 active members.