Family, Ambition, Locality and Party. A Study of Professionalization in the Activation and Apprenticeships of Local Councillors in Europe

Abstract

It is widely acknowledged that elected representatives have often benefited from a variety of steppingstones in their passage to power. This article comparatively studies a selection of such steppingstones amongst local councillors in Europe. More specifically, it takes account of family ties, ambition, the entrenchment in the locality and the political party as elements of activation and apprenticeship in the process of political recruitment. In doing so, it sets out ideal-typical laymen from their professionalized counterparts. The article shows that at this early stage of recruitment, local councillors still generally tend towards the layman archetype. Furthermore, some assets, such as the inclusion in the local community and the enrolment in a political party, seem necessary to enter on a political career. Others are more provisional (e.g. family, motivations, social background, municipal size, ideology and function) or dependent upon the institutional provisions in place (e.g. quota, electoral system). Finally, professionalization patterns do not depend directly from traditional country types, but rather from the specific combination of factors in each country.