Politicians' Ideas of Ideal Politicians: Findings from German and Austrian State Parliaments

Abstract

In recent years, both the individualisation and the mediatisation of politics have accelerated a process of political personalisation, a process which has attracted considerable attention from empirical analysts. But in comparison with media-related and citizen/voter-related studies, studies focusing on political actors are rare. As a consequence, little is known about the perceptions of politicians or their attitudes towards personalisation. These perceptions are presumed to be vital for the relationships between citizens and MPs, specifically with regard to leadership, representativeness, and responsiveness. Against this backdrop, an empirical analysis was conducted of the perceptions of German and Austrian MPs regarding the politics- and public performance-related attributes of ‘ideal’ politicians. Differences were found related to age, sex, and country and, foremost, an amalgamation of attributes which are labelled ‘role-near’, political attributes, and ‘role-distant’, that is media and communication skills.