Are they one of us? The effect of political professionalization on the political elite's social closure and the principal-agent problems, 1978–2019

ABSTRACT This article examines the effect of political professionalization on descriptive representation and the principal-agent problems in the European micro-states and six large-scale democracies since 1980. By doing so, the article revisits an ongoing debate about the consequences of having a political elite professionalized. Using an original data set consisting of the individual and legislative professionalization characteristics of twelve European sovereign states and the aggregate socio-demographic characteristics of parliamentarians at national parliaments, this article shows that while legislative professionalization is a determinant for descriptive representation, politicians’ professionalization is a negative determinant for political responsiveness and accountability. Moreover, this article underlines population size as a determinant for the descriptive representation of certain socio-demographic characteristics and it describes the null effect of population size on the negative causal relation of politicians’ professionalization on political responsiveness and accountability.