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PALGRAVE STUDIES IN POLITICAL LEADERSHIP
Prime Ministers
in Europe
Changing Career
Experiences and Profiles
Ferdinand Müller-Rommel
Michelangelo Vercesi
Jan Berz
Palgrave Studies in Political Leadership
Series Editors
Ludger Helms
University of Innsbruck
Innsbruck, Austria
Gillian Peele
Department of Politics and International Relations
University of Oxford
Oxford, UK
Bert A. Rockman
Department of Political Science
Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN, USA
Palgrave Studies in Political Leadership seeks to gather some of the best
work on political leadership broadly defined, stretching from classical areas
such as executive, legislative and party leadership to understudied manifes-
tations of political leadership beyond the state. Edited by an international
board of distinguished leadership scholars from the United States, Europe
and Asia, the series publishes cutting-edge research that reaches out to a
global readership. The editors are gratefully supported by an advisory
board comprising of: Takashi Inoguchi (University of Tokyo, Japan),
R.A.W Rhodes (University of Southampton, UK) and Ferdinand Müller-
Rommel (University of Luneburg, Germany).
Prime Ministers
in Europe
Changing Career Experiences and Profiles
Ferdinand Müller-Rommel Michelangelo Vercesi
Center for the Study of Democracy Center for the Study of Democracy
Leuphana University Lüneburg Leuphana University Lüneburg
Lüneburg, Germany Lüneburg, Germany
Jan Berz
Department of Political Science
Trinity College Dublin
Dublin, Ireland
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer
Nature Switzerland AG 2022
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of
translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on
microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval,
electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now
known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information
in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the
publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to
the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The
publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and
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This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature
Switzerland AG.
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
To Jean Blondel
a highly respected scholar, mentor, and friend
Foreword
vii
viii FOREWORD
as the government? By raising these questions, the three authors make this
book as an important contribution not only to our knowledge about cru-
cial policy-makers as prime ministers are but also to the ongoing scholarly
debate about the decline (or transformation) of party government.
Exploiting the first systematic collection of biographical data for 350
prime ministers in 26 European countries the book cannot only provide
an average profile of these political figures but also document variations
across groups of countries and over time of this profile.
Throughout the chapters of the book, we come to know who the prime
ministers of Europe are in terms of their gender, age when coming into
office, education, occupational background, and political positions occu-
pied in parliament, cabinet, or party office. We are led to appreciate the
differences in background patterns between three main groups of
European countries, those with a democratic experience dating to the first
years after the Second World War, the Southern European countries who
democratized in the mid-1970s, and the large Central and Eastern
European set of countries who became democratic between the end of the
1980s and the beginning of the 1990s. This articulation of the analysis
already provides important hints about the impact of historical periods on
the shaping of prime ministerial careers; but in a following step the book,
further pursuing this theme, explores variations by decades of all the main
features of prime ministers.
This rich and systematic descriptive analysis provides an interesting
starting point for a more theoretically articulate discussion of some impor-
tant trends of political change: populism, technocracy, and presidentializa-
tion of executive office. Although the book does not directly produce a
causal analysis of the relationship between these trends and the profile of
prime ministers, it provides a very important starting point for developing
further research along these lines.
It is fair to conclude that for all those who are convinced that prime
ministers are among the most important political players in today’s world
this book is a must.
ix
x PREFACE
3 Change
of Prime Ministers’ Careers: Theoretical
Considerations 65
5 Changing
Career Profiles: From Party-Agents to Party-
Principals135
6 Conclusion:
What Have We Learned and What Needs to
Be Done?181
Appendix197
Index225
xiii
List of Figures
xv
xvi List of Figures
xix
xx List of Tables
Table 4.7 Prime ministers’ technical and political experiences: a typology 128
Table 5.1 Expected relationship between individual career attributes and
career profiles 140
Table 5.2 Correlation of career profile factors with career attributes
(principal factor method) 141
Table 5.3 Prime ministerial powers within the cabinet in Europe,
1945–2020161
CHAPTER 1
On May 17, 2016, the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) appointed
Christian Kern as chancellor. Kern, who remained in office until December
2017, was an unusual figure in the history of Austrian party government.
After graduating with a degree in journalism and communication, Kern
worked for three years as a business journalist and for another three years
as assistant to the Federal Chancellery’s secretary of state, Peter Kostelka.
In 1994 he became the spokesman for the SPÖ’s parliamentary leader.
After another three years, Kern began a successful career in business for
the Verbund AG, the largest electricity supplier in Austria. In 2009, he
became a board member of the football club Austria Vienna; in 2010, he
took over as CEO of the public Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB); and, in
2014, he was appointed chairman of the Community of European Railway
and Infrastructure Companies (CER). When Chancellor Faymann (SPÖ)
resigned due to his party’s poor performance in the 2016 Austrian presi-
dential election, the Social Democratic Party selected Kern to be the new
head of government and its party leader.
Although Christian Kern did have a party affiliation and spent part of
his career in close contact with politics, his professional profile tended
toward that of a business manager at the time of his investiture. Kern nei-
ther fit the ideal-type of a technocratic prime minister, devoid of political
experience, nor did he match the career model of a typical, partisan prime
minister, who gained extensive experience in parliament, in cabinet, or as
party head, prior to entering office. In fact, Kern was an atypical, but
appealing, party member whose main professional experiences were gath-
ered outside of politics.
What explains the nomination of Christian Kern as prime minister? We
argue in this book that something new is happening in the selection of
prime ministers in European liberal democracies. In the ‘golden age’ of
party government between the 1950s and 1970s, political parties were the
most influential political organizations for mobilizing and representing
citizens. For about 30 years, they held a firm grasp on all aspects of the
democratic process. During these years, prime ministers were mainly
Berufspolitiker (Weber, 1919), a term later adopted in political science by
King (1981) as ‘career politicians’, who learned the craft of politics by
acquiring expertise as professional government practitioners. These politi-
cians bring with them experiences gained from political apprenticeships
and politically adjacent occupations, such as journalism, public relations,
and academia. They understand the intra-party, legislative, and cabinet
rules and procedures. Most of them are disposed toward compromise and
are able to make convincing political judgments (Allen et al., 2020).
Political parties select these career politicians as prime ministers because of
their reliability as party-agents. Thereby, their previous career positions in
parliament, in government, and in the political party were seen as proxies
for loyalty and competence that are valuable characteristics for being
selected for the prime ministerial job.
Yet, as we will see below, between the 1970s and the 1980s, things
started to change: social cleavages lost relevance as sources of political divi-
sion and constituencies became less cohesive and more individualized.
Furthermore, party identification and membership decreased while vola-
tility and party system fragmentation increased (Casal Bértoa & Enyedi,
2021). As a result, the conditions for a well-functioning, party govern-
ment declined (Mair, 2013, p. 65). Along with the eroding model of party
government, new populist and technocratic demands for representation
emerged in several European countries1 (Bertsou & Pastorella, 2017).
At the same time, the pressure from an increasing internationalization
of politics, defined by global governance through intergovernmental
negotiations, shifted power away from parliament and single cabinet min-
isters toward government and prime ministers. The increasing demand for
domestic and international policy coordination, as well as the growing
complexity and sectoral specialization within the center of government,
has led to a substantial empowerment of prime ministers with managerial
1 STUDYING PRIME MINISTERS’ CAREERS: AN INTRODUCTION 3
FOOTNOTES:
[267] This term had its origin in the early part of the present century, when so
many of H.M.’s 10-gun brigs, employed in carrying the mails, or on other short
services, were lost, especially on their Atlantic voyages, that they got the name of
“coffins.”
[268] See Appendix, No. 13, p. 634, where a list will be found of the different Acts
of Parliament which have been passed relating to merchant shipping since 1849.
[269] See ‘History of Lloyd’s Register of British and Foreign Shipping,’ Appendix,
No. 12, p. 624.
[270] See ante, vol. iii. pp. 48 and 50.
[271] See Parl. Paper C. 630, 1872.
[272]
[274] The figures in this column show the number of lives lost between the 1st
January and 31st of December in each year. The number of lives lost during the
first six months of 1873 is 728.
[275] No record kept for former years.
[276] We expended between 1555 and 1873 143,660l. (see ‘Wreck Returns, 1874,’
p. 11) in providing apparatus for saving life, and in rewards to individuals as well
as awards of the National Lifeboat Institution (apart altogether from the efforts of
that noble Society, about which see ante, note, p. 315), and Her Majesty was
graciously pleased (12th April, 1867) to issue her warrant instituting two
decorations, the “Albert Medal of the first class,” and the “Albert Medal of the
second class,” to reward brave men, who have been conspicuous for saving life at
sea or on the coast.
[277] The total number of vessels and their tonnage, including their repeated
voyages, that entered and cleared at the ports in the United Kingdom with cargoes
and in ballast from and to foreign countries and British possessions for the year
1873 was 130,075, of 44,439,986 tons; the entrances and clearance coastwise
with cargoes only, 332,148 vessels, of 40,632,014 tons. If I add to these the
coasters in ballast and those with the description of cargo of which no note is
taken at the Customs, as also the vessels frequenting the Channel, and bound for
Hamburg, Bremen, and the Northern ports of Europe, which do not enter any of
the ports of the United Kingdom, of which no return is kept, it will be found that I
have not over-estimated the number which now annually pass along or frequent
our coasts.—‘Navigation and Shipping of the United Kingdom for the Year 1873.’
Presented to Parliament, 1874.
[278] This point involves many grave questions. Happily, men do not altogether
live for the purpose of making money—they have other and far nobler objects in
view. Some, indeed, but they are rare and grand characters, live altogether for the
benefit of mankind and the progress of the human race. There are others who
follow a business or profession, not altogether because it yields them profit, but
because it affords them pleasure. Such is the case to a large extent in this country.
We are a seafaring people, and we pursue occupations in connexion with it
frequently as much for pleasure as for profit. We enjoy the business of
Shipowners, because it is natural to us, and we take a delight in improving the
forms of our ships. I have seen a captain whose heart was in his ship, caress her!
—yes, caress her, by clapping the taffrail where he stood when she was performing
her work to his satisfaction, as if she had been a living thing, and heard him
exclaiming, “Go a-head, my beauty!” just as many persons may have been heard
extolling the performance of a favourite horse. Care must, therefore, be taken not
to interfere by unnecessary legislative enactments with what is not merely our
business but our pride and pleasure, or we may be driven, to the serious loss of
the nation, to seek other investments for our capital. We have now arrived at that
point where competition has become so close that if we tax our Shipowners to any
greater extent than they are now taxed, directly or indirectly (interference with
their affairs is the heaviest as well as the most obnoxious of all taxes), we shall
most assuredly drive their ships from the trades in which they are now engaged, or
compel them to submit to the humiliation of seeking a Foreign register, and
hoisting a Foreign flag.
[279] See ante, p. 465.
[280] The year previous to 1873-4 was a much more disastrous one than the year
before it, as there were 728 lives lost in the six months ending 30th June, 1873,
which is in some measure accounted for by the wreck of the ship Northfleet, when
293 lives were lost.
[281] See Parl. Paper, 214, 1875, pp. 4 and 11.
[282] As it has often been broadly stated that employment in British ships is much
more dangerous now than it was in 1836, when the first Committee sat to inquire
into the cause of shipwrecks, I may reply that the most careful analysis shows
that, while the losses were then on the average of the three previous years 3·72
percentage of the number of vessels (or rather of their tonnage) employed, they
were for the three years previous to 1873 only 2·95 per cent., although these
years were exceptionally fatal to ships laden with timber, grain, and coal (see
Appendix to ‘Commission on Unseaworthy Ships,’ pp. 780 and 791), arising from
the enormous increase in the oversea trade of these articles. For instance, while in
1861, 57,745,993 cwts. of corn were imported, the imports in 1872 amounted to
97,765,298 cwts. The imports of timber rose between the same periods from
3,358,589 to 4,949,786 loads; and the oversea exports of coals from 7,934,832 in
1861 to 13,198,494 tons in 1872.
[283] Lighthouses, 6 & 7 Wm. IV. cap. 79.
[284] Merchant Shipping Act Amendment Act, 16 & 17 Vict. cap. 131.
[285] Merchant Shipping Act, 36 & 37 Vict. cap. 85.
[286] Parl. Paper, C. 1152, 1875.
[287] However beneficial in its results, it may well be questioned if any body of
surveyors ought to be empowered at their pleasure, without complaint, to thus
retard trade and stop the ordinary course of commerce; and I am disposed to
question alike the policy and the wisdom, as well as the necessity, of this
regulation. There appear to be now employed in these questionable operations, no
less than 117 Government surveyors, “shipwrights,” and “engineers,” stationed at
different ports in the United Kingdom, twelve of whom are retired officers of the
Royal Navy, besides a good many so-called “shipwrights,” who can have very little
knowledge of the construction of merchant ships or of their requirements.[288] In
making these appointments, the fact seems to have been overlooked that, at all
our ports, there are the surveyors of Lloyd’s Register, or of other similar
associations, whose services might have been utilised with a great saving of public
expenditure, and with, perhaps, greater efficiency. Yet I read, to my astonishment,
in the public journals not long since a letter (6th August, 1875) from Mr. Plimsoll,
addressed to the President of the Board of Trade, in which, among much irrelevant
matter, he urgently recommends eighteen more surveyors to be appointed by
Government, at a salary of not less than 1000l. per annum. I sincerely trust no
such appointments will be made; but that Government will direct its attention to
other more economical and more efficient modes of removing the evils of which
Mr. Plimsoll complains, if indeed they exist at all to the extent alleged. There is no
use hiding the fact that all such appointments must be filled, in a great measure,
through patronage, and that it would be impossible to find men, even at the
tempting salary named, competent for the numerous technical and responsible
duties that would be required of them. But if such men could be found, are we to
hand over the whole of the vast maritime interests of this country, from the time
the keel is laid to the despatch of the ship to sea, to the supervision and control of
a certain number of Government officials, however competent? As it is, the duties
of the surveyors, already appointed, are too frequently as ludicrous as they are
questionable. I daresay Mr. Plimsoll must have felt this when he recommended in
his letter to Sir Charles Adderley, that “we ought not to have less than four
detaining officers in Ireland, four in Scotland, and ten in England, and that the
minimum average(?) salary should be 1000l. per annum.” Of course he meant
them to look after the officers already appointed as well as after the ships; and
that they should be “apart altogether from the Permanent Secretary, and the
Secretary of the Marine Department,” whom he charges, in the same letter,
without, by the way, one tittle or shadow of evidence, with the grossest dereliction
of duty.
[288] The staff of the Board of Trade, and its cost for salaries, in 1875 were as
follows:—
Aggregate
Employment. Number.
Salary.
£
Examinations 13 3,355