On 13 September 2024, Sergio Martini, Paolo Marzi, Luca Verzichelli, Francesco Marangoni, and Greta Comedini (University of Siena) presented the paper “From Rules to Roles, from Locus to Focus: A critical guide of five decades of (political) elite surveys and the study of political representation” at the SISP Conference 2024 in Trieste.
The paper offers a comprehensive review of how elite surveys have approached the study of political representation across 29 democracies over the past fifty years. It traces the evolution of survey instruments, examining how well they capture politicians’ perceptions of their roles, their responsiveness to citizens, and their place within broader institutional frameworks.
By identifying both progress and persistent gaps, the paper contributes to REDIRECT’s goal of refining the empirical foundations of representation studies. It also highlights the importance of harmonising data collection to better understand patterns of representative disconnect and elite–citizen dynamics in contemporary democracies.
The presentation at SISP marked a second major dissemination of this research strand, following the earlier version shared at ECPR 2024, and enabled valuable feedback from the Italian political science community.
Date: 13 September 2024
Location: SISP Conference 2024, Trieste, Italy
Partner: University of Siena (UNISI)
Authors: Sergio Martini, Paolo Marzi, Luca Verzichelli, Francesco Marangoni, Greta Comedini
Type of event: Conference / Paper presentation
#EliteSurveys #PoliticalRepresentation #ComparativePolitics #REDIRECT #SISP2024