Towards a regional political class?
Towards a regional political class?: Professional politicians and regional institutions in Catalonia and Scotland
Klaus Stolz
Series: Devolution Series
Copyright Date: 2009
Published by: Manchester University Press
Pages: 256
https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt155jf9b
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Book Info
Towards a regional political class?
Book Description:

Focussing on professional politicians Klaus Stolz investigates the interrelationship between political career patterns and political institutions in two of the most widely discussed cases of regionalism: Catalonia and Scotland. The study deals with two different yet closely related sets of questions: Firstly, how do professional politicians pursue their careers in the regional context. And secondly, how do they shape and reshape the political institutions in which they pursue these careers. The monograph is based on extensive empirical research including a comprehensive data set on the careers of Catalan and Scottish parliamentarians, systematic surveys of regional representatives as well as in-depth interviews of a wide range of politicians and experts in both regions. Exploring the effects of political professionalisation on regional democracy, Stolz goes way beyond traditional studies of regionalism and decentralization, while his focus on the regional career arena introduces a much needed territorial dimension to the study of political careers. Rich original data, innovative theoretical concepts and a strictly comparative approach are the basis for a study that considerably deepens and enhances our understanding of the tremendous political changes both Catalonia and Scotland are undergoing. Thus, the book is of interest to the still growing number of scholars concerned with devolution in the UK, the Spanish autonomous communities as well as to those interested in regional politics and regionalisation in general. Furthermore, its theoretical focus makes it highly relevant for scholars working on political careers, political professionalisation and democratic theory.

eISBN: 978-1-84779-349-2
Subjects: Political Science
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Table of Contents
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  1. Front Matter
    Front Matter (pp. i-iv)
  2. Table of Contents
    Table of Contents (pp. v-vii)
  3. List of figures
    List of figures (pp. viii-viii)
  4. List of tables
    List of tables (pp. viii-ix)
  5. Acknowledgements
    Acknowledgements (pp. x-xi)
    Klaus Stolz
  6. List of abbreviations
    List of abbreviations (pp. xii-xiv)
  7. 1 The quest for a regional political class
    1 The quest for a regional political class (pp. 1-23)

    Those who fought for Catalan self-government and democracy against the Franco dictatorship didn’t do so with a view to a professional political career: indeed, it was a very risky business, threatening their lives and livelihoods. In the more than thirty years since Franco’s death, though, Jordi Pujol and Pasqual Maragall have not only continued to live for Catalan politics, they have also been living off their political vocation, drawing their salary and pension from serving in the most prestigious positions of Catalan politics. Furthermore, in regionalising the Spanish state and establishing Catalan regional democracy, they, together with their colleagues in...

  8. 2 Regionalism, regionalisation and regional institutions in Catalonia and Scotland: setting the stage for a regional political class
    2 Regionalism, regionalisation and regional institutions in Catalonia and Scotland: setting the stage for a regional political class (pp. 24-48)

    This chapter sets out to delineate the broad historical developments and the main structural features that condition the potential emergence and scope of a regional political class in Catalonia and Scotland. This is of course a vast and difficult task, as it touches upon the macro-processes of democratisation, state modernisation, regionalisation and political professionalisation and the complex ways they have impacted on each other in each case. In the following I will thus concentrate on (1) those particular features that are necessary to understand the context of the empirical analysis contained in the following two chapters, and on (2) those...

  9. 3 Political careers: the making of a regional political class in itself
    3 Political careers: the making of a regional political class in itself (pp. 49-156)

    In the first part of the empirical analysis the focus is on the political class as a dependent variable and remains restricted to its structural dimension as a class ‘in itself’. It is asked whether the concurrent processes of regionalisation and political professionalisation in Catalonia and Scotland have led to the emergence of aregional political classas constituted by the existence of professional politicians (functional differentiation) with a common regional career orientation (territorial differentiation). However, the study is not concerned only with whether such a regional political class actually exists; further, it attempts to show how opportunity structures in...

  10. 4 (Re)making political institutions: a regional political class for itself
    4 (Re)making political institutions: a regional political class for itself (pp. 157-276)

    As we have seen in the last chapter, political institutions established in Catalonia and Scotland have allowed for a professionalisation of Catalan and Scottish politicians and are shaping the patterns of their careers. Thus, regionalisation has not only brought about a territorial differentiation of politics but has also come with a new functional division of labour. Regional self-government is more or less delegated to political professionals trusted with this task. These professional politicians, both in Catalonia and in Scotland, have been shown to exhibit structural similarities in the conditions of their reproduction that point to the existence of common interests...

  11. 5 Conclusion: traces of a regional political class in Catalonia and Scotland
    5 Conclusion: traces of a regional political class in Catalonia and Scotland (pp. 277-293)

    Having analysed the making of a regional political class and its re-making of regional institutions in Catalonia and Scotland in some detail, it is now time to step back and reprise what this analysis can tell us about the development, the state, and the prospect of democracy and autonomy in the two regions. This is followed by a more general evaluation of the theoretical insights and the conceptual advancements that result from a comparison of the two cases.

    InCataloniapolitical professionalisation as well as regionalisation had been part of the democratisation process during the transition. Replacing corporatist Francoist elites...

  12. Appendix 1 Survey of regional parliamentarians in Catalonia and Scotland
    Appendix 1 Survey of regional parliamentarians in Catalonia and Scotland (pp. 294-296)
  13. Appendix 2 Interview series with Catalan and Scottish politicians
    Appendix 2 Interview series with Catalan and Scottish politicians (pp. 297-301)
  14. Appendix 3 Time commitments of regional politicians
    Appendix 3 Time commitments of regional politicians (pp. 302-303)
  15. References
    References (pp. 304-322)
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