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A new political elite in Western Europe? The political careers of regional prime ministers in newly decentralised countries

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French Politics Aims and scope

Abstract

This article aims to observe the effects of decentralisation on the political careers of the regional elite in Spain, France and the United Kingdom. We address the main career pathways of these elites, and we test whether the type of decentralisation and the duration of decentralisation make a difference to their careers. The results show different career pathways, and outline the eventual emergence of a new cursus honorum in which local and national career paths are dissociating. Institutional structure and time make a difference. In France, regional presidents tend to follow a traditional career path, whereas in Spain we find new territorial careers. The consolidation of regional institutions seems to favour the differentiation of political careers.

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Notes

  1. We use the term ‘regional’ following the common usage employed in studies on decentralisation in Europe. However, we are ‘aware that “regional” may have a negative connotation for some supporters of the decentralized institutions, who claim a “national” identity for these ones.’ In this study, we make reference to ‘regional’ or ‘subnational’ entities as the new level between local and state, distinguishing them from other ‘national’ or ‘central’ institutions corresponding to a state level.

  2. We use the term ‘regional prime minister’ for every country, although this terminology is controversial in France and Spain, where these posts are called ‘presidents’. However, they are heads of regional executives selected by the regional parliament and not directly elected by the voters. Therefore, we consider that the term ‘regional prime minister’ is less misleading from a comparative point of view.

  3. In federal systems, heads of subnational government have not received systematic and comparative analysis either. Among the most relevant studies, meriting mention are works devoted to the governors in the United States (Sabato, 1978; Beyle, 2004) and to the German Ministerpräsident (Schneider, 2001). Although the political careers of the Canadian premiers have not been studied as a whole, there are works on their influence on the provincial governments of Canada in progress (Pal and Taras, 1988; Dunn, 1996; Bernier et al, 2005).

  4. In this study, we consider only those heads of regional governments who have been appointed by an assembly directly elected by citizens. Therefore, we have excluded individuals who held interim posts or those who came to office by indirectly elected assemblies at the beginning of a period of autonomy (such in France until 1986 or in Spain until the first autonomous region elections).

  5. Owing to the special features of government evolution in Northern Ireland, we have not included it in this study.

  6. By prior regional experience, we mean experience as a regional parliamentarian or minister in a previous term of office in the case of coming into government power at the beginning of a term, or experience from the beginning of the present term of office for those who come into power at mid-term. At the time of appointment, all regional heads of government studied are in turn members of the parliamentary assembly, given that in most regions analysed this is an indispensable requirement to be able to obtain parliament's trust.

  7. Four regional French presidents resigned from their mayorship to be able to access regional posts. Some of them had obtained mayorship only a few years earlier (Claude Gewerc, Jean-Luc Harusseau and Pierre Joel Bonté had been in office for barely 3 years). In contrast, Georges Frêche had an extremely long career path of 27 years as mayor of Montpellier.

  8. Unlike the United Kingdom and France, the post of regional minister in Spain is incompatible with being a national MP. Conversely, the regional post is compatible with holding a seat in the Senate, and therefore many Spanish regional ministers enter lower chambers as representatives of regional parliaments.

  9. Five Spanish RPMs were ministers before attaining regional posts: M. Chaves, J.A. Griñán. J. Montilla, E. Aguirre and M. Fraga, who was a minister in Franco's government and who later was leader of the Alianza Popular during the first 10 years of democracy. J. Matas was a minister between his first and second terms in office as RPM of the Balearic Islands.

  10. Adrien Zeller, president of the Alsace Regional Council since 1997, symbolises the culmination of a multilevel career, having moved through all the political arenas analysed after starting his political career in 1973. Before obtaining regional presidency, Zeller had been mayor of Saverne, general councillor of Bas-Rhin, regional councillor of Alsace, deputy in the National Assembly, Secretary of State of Social Security and MEP.

  11. The only exception to this model was Jack McConnell, whose career began as a local councillor in Stirling. In 1992 he became the General Secretary of the Scottish Labour Party. In the late 1990s, he was a member of the Scottish Constitutional Convention. After being minister of the new Scottish executive for 2 years, he became first minister in 2001.

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Acknowledgements

This research has been funded by the Project SEJ2006-15076-C03-02, from Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación; the Project SEJ-4032, from Junta de Andalucía; and the Institut de Ciències Polítiques i Socials, from Barcelona. Juan Rodríguez Teruel is Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science and at The Open University with a grant funded by the Beatriu de Pinós Program of the Generalitat de Catalunya. A previous version of this article was presented at the World Congress of Political Science in Santiago de Chile (July 2009), and at the ECPR General Conference in Potsdam (September 2009). The authors appreciate the comments received there, and the suggestions made by Régis Dandoy during the research process, as well as those made by the two anonymous reviewers.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universtat Autònoma de Barcelona, Edifici B. Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), 08193, Spain

    Joan Botella

  2. London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London, WC2A 2AE, UK

    Juan Rodríguez Teruel

  3. Ciencia Política i de l’Administració, Universtat de València, Avinguda dels Tarongers, València, 46071, Spain

    Oscar Barberà & Astrid Barrio

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  1. Joan Botella
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  2. Juan Rodríguez Teruel
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Correspondence to Juan Rodríguez Teruel.

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Botella, J., Teruel, J., Barberà, O. et al. A new political elite in Western Europe? The political careers of regional prime ministers in newly decentralised countries. Fr Polit 8, 42–61 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1057/fp.2009.40

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