8/3/2019 National Bureaucrats and Politicians
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National Bureaucrats and Politicians: Elites in Conflict and
Consensus at the Apex of the System
Inquiry about how political systems differ in what regards:
1. Social character and representativeness of national elites
across the system2. Organisational cohesion of national elites3.
Elite consensus on their attitudes, beliefs and values4. Elite
commitment to democratic norms
Previous main ideas:
1. At local level the elite typology does not really apply if
one excludes the lack ofrepresentativeness
2. Elites must be understood in both dimensions: national +
communitarian3. It is rather hard to extrapolate/generalise
features of elites from the local elites category.
Attack on the classics for their scarcely-proven generalisations
Which is the construct closest to reality in what regards elites
What variable should we use to explain political lifecontext,
culture?
7-nation studyresults:
1. Social background: education (law of increasing
disproportion); gender; social class;family; party membership
(socialisation)
2. Elite orientation to politics: role perceptions, attitudes,
beliefsconsensus?a. Consensus on each others role and on power
holdingb. Beliefs & attitudesdissensionbureaucrats emphasised
bourgeois, material
welfare, values much more than the politicians
Contingency features should be thoroughly considered when
generalising3. Elite communicationwith whom?
a. Elite integration/cohesionstrongly variable across
countriesb. Elite communication with peopleas well
4. According to their data there are no consensual national
elites in what regards basic valuepriorities.
5. Commitment to democracy: there is a disjunction between the
abstract and specificsupport for public participation in politics,
political conflict;
a. Not all principles of democracy are supported (not even at
abstract level) Though he talks about the dangers of
generalisation, the notion of commitment to
democracy is only measured with two variablessupport for
citizens participation and
support for political conflict.
