University of BucharestFaculty of Political ScienceAcademic Year: 2011-2012Level: Undergraduate students (third year)

COURSE TITLEPolitical Elites

INSTRUCTORLector Dr. Laurenţiu Ştefan

COURSE OBJECTIVESThe course aims at bringing studies of political elites to the forefront of academic

curricula. It aims at convincing the students of the importance of studying political elites. It aims at providing them the incentives to go further in the investigation of political elites, by presenting the state of the field and the research programs of the last decades. It aims at familiarizing the students with the main approaches in the study of political elites, and with the current theoretical debates and developments in the field. It aims at encouraging the students to specialize in the understanding of political elites from the point of view of their recruitment. It aims, at the same time, at developing the students’ capacity to review, criticize and develop theories and empirical investigations. Finally, it aims at providing those students that chose to concentrate in their dissertations on political elites the theoretical background, the methodological tools and the guidance to carry out an individual empirical investigation on Romanian political elites.

It is hoped that, at the end of the course, a number of students will have the motivation, the interest, the necessary theoretical background and the methodological tools to continue to do research in the field of political elites.

Course outline1. Introduction to political elite studies. Short history of elite studies. Major questions and

approaches in the study of political elites. Elite studies and democratic theory: responses of empirical research

2. Theories of political elite recruitment. The theoretical strengths of recruitment theories. Authors, variables, and empirical tests

3. Revisiting the theories of political elite recruitment: the political party as the unit of analysis

4. The empirical study of elites: methodological considerations5. Elite research in Eastern Europe. A review and discussion of relevant literature6. Open sessions. Where are the studies of political elites today? Open discussion on the

major works, theories, findings and research programs in the study of political elites

Readings and requirementsA reader with the major texts that will be discussed during the sessions will be

provided. As a rule, the texts included in the reader should be seen as mandatory readings. For each topic, a more comprehensive list of readings is provided. All the readings are in the personal library of the lecturer and are available on request. Students will be required to choose from the extended reading list the journal article or book chapter that fall within their area of interest and to make an oral presentation of the major arguments of the text. In every session, students will be evaluated on their position papers, quizzes and active participation.

Sessions 1-3: Introduction to political elite studies. Short history of elite studies. Major research questions and approaches in the study of political elites. Elite studies and democratic theory: responses of empirical research

Brief outlineThe first two sessions will focus on the history of studies of political elites. We will

try to draw a map of the major research questions in the field of elite studies (with the help of Putnam 1976), to identify the major theories and to see how (and what) empirical research responded to the theoretical challenges. The work of two famous political scientists will be under scrutiny: Harold D. Lasswell and Samuel Eldersveld.

Mandatory readingsLasswell, Harold D. 1950 - Chapter I, “Elite”, in Politics: Who Gets What, When, How, Peter

Smith, New York (first edition McGraw-Hill 1936), pp. 1-27Lasswell, Harold D. 1952 - Chapter II, “The Elite Concept”, in Laswell, Harold D., Daniel

Lerner, C. Easton Rothwell. 1952. The Comparative Study of Elites: An Introduction and Bibliography, Stanford University Press, Stanford, pp. 6-21

Eulau, Heinz. 1976. “Elite Analysis and Democratic Theory: The Contribution of H.D. Lasswell”, in Eulau, Heinz, Moshe M. Czudnowski (eds.). 1976. Elite Recruitment in Democratic Polities: Comparative Studies Across Nations, John Wiley and Sons, New York, pp. 7-28

Eldersveld, Samuel. 1989. Political Elites in Modern Societies. Empirical Research and Democratic Theory, The University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor

Further readingsPutnam, Robert D. 1976. The Comparative Study of Political Elites, Prentice-Hall,

Englewood Cliffs, New JerseyEtzioni-Halevy, Eva. 1997. “Elites in Democracy and Democratization - Classical Analyses”

[Pareto, Mosca, Weber, Mills, Schumpeter, Aron], in Etzioni-Halevy, Eva, Classes and Elites in Democracy and Democratization. A Collection of Readings, Garland Publishing, New York and London, pp. 43-91

Students’ presentationsWeber, Max. 1958. “Politics as a Vocation”, in From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology,

translated, edited and with an introduction by H.H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills, Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 77-128

Pareto, Vilfredo. 1991. The Rise and Fall of Elites: An Application of Theoretical Sociology, with an Introduction by Hans L. Zetterberg, Transaction Publishers (first published as “Un applicazione di teorie sociologiche”, in Rivista Italiana di Sociologia, 1901, pp. 402-456)

Michels, Robert. 1999. Political Parties. A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy, translated by Eden and Cedar Paul, with an Introduction by S.M. Lipset (first German edition in 1911, French edition in 1914, this is a reprint from the first English translation, Collier Publishing, 1962), Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, London

Mills, C. Wright. 1956. The Power Elite, Oxford University Press

Sessions 4-6: Theories of political elite recruitment. The theoretical strengths of recruitment theories. Authors, variables, and empirical tests

Brief outlineThe following two sessions will focus on the theories of political elite recruitment. We

will try to place the studies on recruitment within the larger family of elite studies and to highlight their relative theoretical strengths as compared to other approaches on political elites. The major variables of the theories of political elite recruitment will be introduced (with the help of Czudnowski 1976). The recruitment models and the outcomes of the major empirical studies of political elite recruitment will be discussed, with a focus on the work by Lester G. Seligman and Kenneth Prewitt.

Mandatory readingsSeligman, Lester G. 1967. “Political parties and the recruitment of political leadership”, in

Edinger, Lewis J. (ed.). Political Leadership in Industrial Societies: Studies in Comparative Analysis, John Wiley, New York, pp. 294-315

Seligman, Lester G., Michael King, Chang Lim Kim, Ronald Smith. 1974. “A Model of the Recruitment Process”, in Patterns of Recruitment: A State [Oregon] Chooses its Lawmakers, Rand McNally, Chicago, pp. 13-36

Prewitt, Kenneth. 1970. The Recruitment of Political Leaders: A Study of Citizen-Politicians, Bobbs-Merrill, Indianapolis and New York

Prewitt, Kenneth, Alan Stone. 1973. “The Recruitment of Political Elites”, in The Ruling Elites: Elite Theory, Power and American Democracy, Harper and Row, New York, pp. 131-159

Czudnowski, Moshe M. 1975. “Political Recruitment”, in Fred I. Greenstein and Nelson Polsby (eds.), Handbook of Political Science, Addison Wesley, Reading, Mass., vol. II, pp. 155-242, especially pp. 219-242

Further readingsMarvick, Dwaine. 1976. “Continuities in recruitment theory and research: Toward a New

Model”, in Eulau, Heinz, Moshe M. Czudnowski (eds.). 1976. Elite Recruitment in Democratic Polities: Comparative Studies Across Nations, John Wiley and Sons, New York, pp. 29-44

Jacob, Herbert. 1962. “Initial recruitment of elected officials in the US – A model”, Journal of Politics, 24: 708

Students’ presentationsNorris, Pippa, Joni Lovenduski. 1995. Political recruitment: gender, race, and class in the

British Parliament, Cambridge University PressNorris, Pippa (ed.). 1997. Passages to Power: Legislative Recruitment in Advanced

Democracies, Cambridge University PressMathiot, Pierre, Frederic Sawicki. 1999. “Les membres des cabinets ministeriels socialistes

en France (1981-1993). Recrutement et reconversion”, Revue française de science politique, vol. 49. Premiere partie: “Charactéristiques sociales et filières de recrutement”, no. 1 (février), pp. 3-29, Seconde Partie: “Passage en Cabinet et trajectoires professionnelles”, no. 2 (avril), pp. 231-264

Sessions 7, 8: Revisiting the theories of political elite recruitment: the political party as the unit of analysis

Brief outlineThese sessions will familiarize the students with the new developments in the field of

political parties: the theories of party government. These new theories have rediscovered the centrality of the recruitment of political links, without however encapsulating the findings of the previous studies that identified the party as the major locus of political recruitment. With the help of these new theories, the students will be presented with the possibility to improve the explanatory potential of older models of political elite recruitment.

Mandatory readingsWare, Alan. 1996. Chapter 9: “The Selection of Candidates and Leaders”, in Political Parties

and Party Systems, Oxford University Press, pp. 257-288Andeweg, R.B. 2000. “Political Recruitment and Party Government”, in Jean Blondel and

Maurizio Cotta (eds.) The Nature of Party Government. A Comparative European Perspective, Palgrave, pp. 119-140

Stefan, Laurentiu. 2002. “The Impact of Recruitment for Public Office on Party Organization. Theory Development and a Case Study from Post-Communist Romania” in Transitions. La Roumanie et l’intégration européenne (numéro édité par Sorina Soare), vol. 43, no. 1, pp. 25-40 (in English).

Further readings / Students’ presentationsCotta, Maurizio, Jean Blondel (eds.). 1996. Party and Government: An Inquiry into the

Relationship between Governments and Supporting Parties in Liberal Democracies, Macmillan

Cotta, Maurizio, Jean Blondel (eds.). 2000. The Nature of Party Government: A Comparative European Perspective, Palgrave

Sessions 9, 10: The empirical study of elites: methodological considerations

Brief outlineThese sessions focus on the peculiarities of the empirical study of elites. Although in

all the other sections of the course, a special attention is given to the methods used by the students of political elites, we deal in these two sessions head-on with the difficulties in approaching the population under investigation and getting reliable data on political elites.

Mandatory readings / Students presentationsMoyser, George, Margaret Wagstaffe (eds.). 1987. Research methods for Elite Studies, Allen

and Unwin, London; the following chapters:- Moyser, George, Margaret Wagstaffe. 1987. “Studying Elites: theoretical and

methodological issues”, in Moyser and Wagstaffe (eds.), pp. 1-24- Hoffmann-Lange, Ursula. 1987. “Surveying national elites in the FRG”, in Moyser and

Wagstaffe (eds.), pp. 27-47- Pridham, Geoffrey. 1987. “Interviewing party-political elites in Italy”, in Moyser and

Wagstaffe (eds.), pp. 72-88

Further readingHertz, Rossana, Johnatan Imber (eds.). 1995. Studying elites using quantitative methods,

Sage, Thousand Oaks

Sessions 11, 12: Elite research in post-communist Eastern Europe. A review and discussion of relevant literature

Brief outlineThese sessions introduce the students to the investigations of political elites in post-

communist political elites. Each East-European country will be treated separately in order to assess the relative importance given to the study of elites in each post-communist country. The approaches taken and the research outcomes will be discussed, with special attention given to transnational, or cross-national comparative studies. This overview is facilitated by two recent syntheses by Best and Becker (1997) and by Bozoki (2001).

Mandatory readingsBozoki, Andras. 2001. “From New Class Theory to Elite Research. Research On Political

Elites In East Central Europe”, paper prepared for the ECPR conference on political science research in East Central Europe. Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Study and European University Institute, Florence, Italy, November 9-10, 2001.

Best, Heinrich, Ulrike Becker (eds.). 1997. Elites in transition: elite research in Central and Eastern Europe, Leske und Budrich, the following chapters- Best, Heinrich. 1997. “Introduction”, in Best, Becker (eds.), pp. 7-12- Wasilewski, J. 1997. “Elite research in Poland: 1989-1995”, in Best, Becker (eds.), pp.

13-40- Huszar, Tibor. 1997. “Elite research in Hungary: 1985-1994”, in Best, Becker (eds.),

pp. 41-60- Mateju, Petr. 1997. “Elite research in the Czech Republic”, in Best, Becker (eds.), pp.

61-76- Kusa, Zuzana. 1997. “Elite research in the Slovak Republic”, in Best, Becker (eds.), pp.

77-90- Toneva, Zdravka. 1997. “Research on economic and political elites in Bulgaria in the

period 1990-1995”, in Best, Becker (eds.), pp. 91-106

Further readingsWasilewski, Jacek, Janina Frentzel-Zagorska (eds.). 2000. The Second Generation of

Democratic Elites in Central and Eastern Europe, Institute of Political Studies, WarsawBaylis, Thomas A. 1998. “Elite Change after Communism: Eastern Germany, the Czech

Republic, and Slovakia”, EEPS, vol. 12, no. 2 (Spring), pp. 265-299

Students’ presentationsSzelenyi, Ivan, Szonja Szelenyi. 1995. “Circulation and reproduction of elites in the

postcommunist transformations of Eastern Europe”, Theory and Society, Vol. 24 (1995), pp. 615-638

Eyal, Gill, Eleanor Townsley, Ivan Szelenyi (eds.). 2001. Making Capitalism without Capitalists: The New Ruling Elites in Eastern Europe, Verso Books (Romanian edition: Omega Press 2001)

Higley, John, Gyorgy Lengyel (eds.). 2000. Elites after State Socialism, Rowman and Littlefield Publishing

Sessions 13, 14: Open sessions. Where are the studies of political elites today? Open discussion on the major works, theories, findings and research programs in the study of political elites