The Regionalization of Political Careers in Spain and the UK

Calling It Quits: Legislative Retirements in Comparative Perspective

“…Other research has examined differences in retirement due to ambitions for holding other offices (Stolz, 2003;Borchert, 2011;Borchert and Stolz, 2011). While 'progressive ambition' in the US context has usually implied running for national-level offices (except in the cases where MCs run for a state governorship), the devolution of authority to lower levels of government in other countries has opened opportunities for legislators preferring local to national policymaking to retire from national parliaments in pursuit of electoral ambitions in these 'lower-level' legislatures (Stolz, 2011;Vanlangenakker, Maddens, and Put, 2013;Dodeigne, 2014Dodeigne, , 2018, with particular turnover in countries where legislative authority in devolved governments is greatest (Gouglas et al, 2018). Similar to Republican MCs preferring that decisions be made by state governments retiring from federal office more often than federally-oriented MCs, this suggests that MPs from parties preferring the devolution of powers to lower levels of government may retire in pursuit of these offices at higher rates than MPs from other parties.…”

“…The UK has also developed distinct career paths for regional and national politicians following devolution. While there was considerable movement of MPs from Westminster to the inaugural Scottish Parliament in 1999, the lower levels of office switching in subsequent elections indicate that a pattern of alternative career paths has emerged (Stolz, 2011).…”

“…The UK has also developed distinct career paths for regional and national politicians following devolution. While there was considerable movement of MPs from Westminster to the inaugural Scottish Parliament in 1999, the lower levels of office-switching in subsequent elections indicate that a pattern of alternative career paths has emerged (Stolz, 2011). At least prior to the UK’s stated intention to leave the European Union, progressive ambition may also take the form of MPs seeking election to the supranational European Parliament – though there is little evidence to suggest that many MPs used their national legislatures as a springboard for a European political career (Stolz, 2003).…”

Marszałkowie województw jako politycy regionalni

“…Ma to bardzo poważny wpływ na przebieg karier politycznych w większości krajów w Europie Zachodniej. Perspektywa MLG, w tym między innymi prace: Stolz (2001Stolz ( , 2009Stolz ( , 2011 Majcherkiewicz (2016a, b), zwracają uwagę, że stanowiska w polityce regionalnej coraz częściej stają się bardziej atrakcyjne, co powoduje, że są celem, do którego dąży coraz więcej polityków 5 .…”

Territorial cleavage or institutional break-up? Party integration and ideological cohesiveness among Spanish elites

“…Career studies that have analysed career orientation of professional politicians in multilevel systems have concluded that the conventional hierarchical pattern in which the central state is at the apex of political careers no longer applies in multilevel systems (Borchert and Stolz, 2011; Stolz, 2003). Decentralisation not only contributes to the establishment of strong and professionalised regional institutions, it elevates the regional career arena to a status “far beyond the conventionally assumed role as a mere springboard to the national level” (Stolz, 2011: 3). Assuming that the behaviour of politicians is highly conditioned by their career ambitions (Schlesinger, 1966), we may expect different electoral strategies or modes of representation depending on the nature of career patterns.…”