National and Regional Elites in Austrian Politics

How does one become a top politician in Austria? Which institutions have shaped political careers in Austria since the Second Republic? These are the central research questions pursued in the research project National and Local Elites in Austrian Politics. The project aims to comprehensively cover all political elite members at the level of federal states/provinces, as well as at the national level. Biographical data on members of parliament (Nationalrat, Bundesrat) are provided by the Austrian Parliament (Parlamentsdirektion). CVs of all members of state governments (Landeshauptmann-(stv.), Landesräte) are taken from pertinent biographical dictionaries or politicians databases managed by the diverse provincial archives. Biographical information is only unavailable for the province Carinthia. In total about 3,000 politicians will be analysed. Political careers will be explored by applying sequence analysis, a method that was originally invented in molecular biology for the decryption of genetic patterns. A social sequence is an ordered list of events/job positions that might differ in duration; it will allow the entire CV of any given politician to be captured. With the help of various matching methods, it is possible to cluster most similar sequences and thus devise typologies of typical career pathways. Bringing structure into big data also enables us to systematically explore change in political party careers or over time. A key characteristic of political careers in Austria are personal interlocks. Leading powerholders are, for example, members of various student associations (BSA, CV), trade unions or chambers (ÖGB, WKO). With the help of multiple correspondence analysis, another visualizing technique, it is possible to systematically explore these cross-linkages alongside other characteristics. The main aim of such an empirical approach is to understand whether interlacing between politics and social partners a key characteristic of Austrocorporatism has decreased over time. Finally, politicians will be also be interviewed to gain subjective perspectives on the identified career typologies. All data will be gathered and coded by a three-headed research team. With the support of a computer scientist, a relational database will be created that allows for very diverse and detailed inquiries. All biographical data will be coded with the help of specialised software (computer- assisted software). The research design allows comparisons with results from a parallel research project on Parliamentary Careers in Comparisons (http://parliamentarycareersincomparison.org), which studies Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland. At the end of the project, a synthesis should facilitate understanding of how different political systems and party structures in Europe influence political careers.

No additional funding sources recorded.