Specifics of the Poitical Elites’ Recruitment in Modern Germany

The article deals with the recruitment of the political elite in Germany. The author positions her perspective within the wider field of study. The paper investigates the ways of political elite recruitment. The author claims that a steady promotion in parties is likely to be the most significant recruitment route for German political elites. The research relies on the database of members of the German Bundestag (736 parlamentarians) and Government (17 members), collected by the author. It is analyzed whether there are universities in Germany that mitigate pathways into the elite or are empowered to train the political elite. The database analysis reveals that there are no core universities for the future elite in Germany, and parlamentarians, in effect, graduated from different universities. Thus, the German case is different from Britain’s or France’s experience of the political elite recruitment process. By examining the hypothesis about the significant role of parties, the author investigates the following questions: the role of youth organizations, the age to join parties, and the connection of a legislator with a federal state. The database analysis shows the importance of youth organizations of parties. Allegedly, more than half parlamentarians were and still are members of these organizations. The study reveals that German politicians tend to become party members from an early age and presumably move up the party career ladder slowly. The author emphasizes the link between parlamentarians and their region. A significant part of members of the 20th Bundestag has a constituency in the same federal state as they grew up, or as they get professional and higher education, or both.