Political Ladder Research Articles

FEMALE LEADERSHIP AND INTRA-ENTREPRENEURSHIP: DIFFICULTIES, CHALLENGES AND BARRIERS FACED BY WOMEN IN ORGANIZATIONS

In all contemporary industrialized societies, women remain under-represented in meeting rooms and governments. While this gender gap has narrowed, the challenges women face in climbing the corporate and political ladder remain substantial. A male bias in the highest positions of leadership is universal. In fact, in most societies — both past and contemporary — formal political leadership positions were, and continue to be, almost exclusively occupied by men. If today women are not formally forbidden from holding leadership and entrepreneurial positions, they are still fewer or less powerful than their male counterparts. It is difficult to justify the fact that women are less likely to reach the highest echelons in politics, business, science and religion, given that there is no consistent evidence that they are leaders or entrepreneurs worse or better than men by virtue of their female characteristics. Attempting to explain the gender gap in leadership and entrepreneurship involves considering gender stereotypes, prejudice, institutional sexism, etc. This study sought to investigate this gender gap in an exploratory manner, through a literature review and interviews with women in the interentrepreneurship.

Alexander Georgievich Egorov was the rector of Leningrad Chemical-Pharmaceutical Institute from 1958 to 1972

Based on unpublished sources from the Central State Archive of Historical and Political Documents of St. Petersburg, as well as from the Central State Archive of St. Petersburg, the biography of Alexander Georgievich Egorov, the rector of the Leningrad Chemical-Pharmaceutical Institute, has been reconstructed. His career in education was extraordinarily successful, which was explained on the one hand by his personal merits, and on the other hand, by his simultaneous rise up the political ladder, which was a tribute to the times and characterized the Soviet system as a whole. The authors consider Alexander Georgievichs contribution to the improvement of the structure and personnel of the Leningrad Chemical-Pharmaceutical Institute, the development of scientific work, and the modernization of the institutes material and technical base. Thanks in large part to the organizational qualities and leadership abilities of Rector A. G. Egorov, during his 12-year leadership, the Leningrad Chemical-Pharmaceutical Institute became known and was the only higher educational institution of its kind, where specialists in the field of pharmacy were trained not only for pharmacies, but also for pharmaceutical factories

The ties that bribe: Corruption's embeddedness in Chicago organized crime*

AbstractThe crime of corruption ranges from politicians involved in high‐profile scandals to low‐level bureaucrats granting contracts and police officers demanding bribes. Corruption occurs when state actors criminally leverage their positions of power for financial gain. Our study examines how corruption varies by political power position and within criminal contexts by measuring the embeddedness of corruption within Chicago historical organized crime. We analyze Chicago's organized crime network before and during Prohibition (1900–1919 and 1920–1933) to compare differences across embedded network positions between political, law enforcement, and nonstate actors. Our findings show that more police were in organized crime than politicians before Prohibition, but the small group of politicians had higher embeddedness in organized crime. During Prohibition, when organized crime grew and centralized, law enforcement decreased in proportion and became less embedded in organized crime. Politicians, however, maintained their proportion and high level of embeddedness. We argue that everyday corruption is more frequent but less embedded when criminal contexts are moderately profitable. As criminal contexts increase in profitability, however, corruption moves up the political ladder to include fewer people who are more highly embedded. This work has theoretical implications for the symbiotic relationship between corruption and criminal organizations.

Up the Political Ladder: Gender Parity in the Effects of Electoral Defeats

This paper investigates whether an electoral defeat has different effects on the subsequent political involvement of male and female candidates for state office. Using US state legislative election returns from 1972 to 2010 and a regression discontinuity design, I find that there is no gender difference in the effects of an electoral defeat on the propensity to run again for state legislature. I discuss possible explanations for why the gender gap in persistence documented among novice local politicians disappears among state politicians, focusing on the role of prior office-holding experience.

CATALYSTS AND INHIBITORS OF POLITICAL CAREER IN RUSSIA

Studying the basic principles of the political elite formation in Russia is the cornerstone for understanding the country’s future strategy and its development vector, since the development strategy will depend on those people who will be at the helm of the country’s governance. There is already a dynamic process of rejuvenating the authorities, representatives of Generation X are actively striding along the political career ladder and gain high positions. The analysis of the career background of “young” politicians, the main political career elevators, its catalysts and inhibitors, and the speed of professional formation has been reflected in our research. The research was carried out on the base of biographies of 370 civil servants who, as of March 1, 2019, held the posts of deputy ministers or deputy heads of federal departments. Biographies were taken from open sources and were digitized in a database. The study examined the career paths of politicians, on the base of which it is possible to allocate the key institutions of the political elite formation and political career elevators.

NGO and Tribal Women: A Case Study of Odisha

Tribals are at the bottom of the social and political ladder in India. Development projects have not only bypassed them, but have often harmed them by taking away their lands and other resources on which their livelihood was based. Unless the processes which result in their proletarianization are identified and corrective action taken to prevent it, chances are that new programmes will continue to ignore their interests as in the past. Articulation of such processes will not only lead to appropriate solutions but it also helps in sensitizing field officers who in the past often held a negative stereotype about tribals. But there are NGOs and Civil Society Organizations have been working for Tribals upliftment and betterment since years. As we know the problems can not be resolved by the Govt. alone and therefore other alternatives emerged to support the process of development. The process of inclusion started from Gandhian ideology to a democratic process of development and empowerment.

ACCUMULATION OF POWER OF THE SCRIBE OF THE GRAND DUKE OF LITHUANIA JONAS BOGDANAITIS SAPIEGA (†1546) AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 16TH CENTURY

The article raises the question about the way the officials of the Grand Duke’s Office accumulated power and used it to ascend the social and political ladder at the beginning of the 16th century. This question is answered based on the case study of the career of Jonas Bogdanaitis Sapiega (Иван Богданович Сапега), the Scribe of the Supreme Council of the Grand Duke. The analysis of the correspondence revealed that this position not only granted J. B. Sapiega the opportunity to be in the closest environment of the Grand Duke but also to influence his decisions related to the matters of the state or private affairs of the Lithuanian nobility. This enabled J. B. Sapiega to develop close and friendly (horizontal) relations with Lithuanian noblemen of the highest social ranking as well as to benefit from their protection and patronage.

Hamilton’s America: An Unfinished Symphony with a Stutter (Beat)

Hamilton’s America: An Unfinished Symphony with a Stutter (Beat) Ariel Nereson (bio) Hamilton. The Public Theater, New York, April 12, 2015. How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore and a Scotsman, dropped in the middle of a forgotten Spot in the Caribbean by providence, impoverished, in squalor, Grow up to be a hero and a scholar? Lin-Manuel Miranda is no stranger to success on Broadway—his musical In the Heights garnered him four 2008 Tony Awards and a Grammy Award.1 In 2016 Miranda almost tripled his success: the juggernaut musical Hamilton, for which he wrote the music and lyrics, and starred as Alexander Hamilton, won eleven 2016 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Book, and Best Score.2 Inspired by the historian Ron Chernow’s 2005 biography Alexander Hamilton and beginning as “The Hamilton Mixtape” performed as a short rap by Miranda for President Barack Obama at the White House in 2009,3 Hamilton’s connection to contemporary American politics via its unique perspective on the nation’s founding has garnered the production endless accolades from various popular media outlets and a steady stream of celebrity attendees from Beyoncé and Jay-Z to the Obamas and a slew of Treasury secretaries, including the current secretary, Jacob J. Lew.4 While this review is of the Public Theater production (direction by Thomas Kail, choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler, and music direction by Alex Lacamoire) that enjoyed a thrice-extended run from January 20 to May 3, 2015, much of my commentary remains relevant for its transfer to the Richard Rogers Theatre on Broadway in July 2015, where it continues a sold-out run and has reinvented the concept of the rush line as a performance venue in itself. Since January 2015, Miranda has been awarded a MacArthur “genius” grant, the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the 2016 Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama [End Page 1045] Inspired by American History, the George Washington Book Prize, and the Original Broadway Cast Recording has won a Grammy and reached number one on the Billboard Rap chart.5 Hamilton’s primary interventions into the story of the founding fathers revolve around casting choices and the use of rap and hip-hop as the dominant musical genres. Both the nontraditional casting and music reinvent dominant modes of storytelling, advancing Miranda’s thesis of “history being up for grabs, and the teller being just as important as the subject.”6 While seemingly universally lauded by popular critics, a recent critical conversation among historians and cultural critics has emerged, positioning two lines of primary inquiry: Hamilton as art/entertainment, and Hamilton as history. Yet these lines continually intersect in the experience of the production, creating a web wherein they produce meaning interdependently, not as fragments, complicating the critical division. Hamilton tells the story of “10-dollar founding father without a father” Alexander Hamilton (Miranda), bookended by two encounters with Aaron Burr (Leslie Odom Jr.): the first meeting between the men in New York City in 1776, where Hamilton seeks Burr’s advice at climbing the political ladder, and the last, their infamous duel in 1804.7 Act 1 addresses the Revolutionary War, act 2 the aftermath of governing. The entire show is sung (rapped, etc.) through, making the cast recording a good option for a relatively complete version of the show if a live Broadway viewing is not in your future. The musical opens with several historical figures—Burr, Jefferson (Daveed Diggs), Madison (Okieriete Onaodowan), George Washington (Christopher Jackson), John Laurens (Anthony Ramos), Eliza Hamilton (Phillipa Soo)—ruminating on Hamilton’s unlikely survival and success, introducing both the central figure and the critical interplay between history and historiography that runs throughout the performance. Burr’s opening lines, which began this review, introduce a man who was raised by a single mother out of wedlock and, crucially for this production, came to the colonies as an immigrant believing in the promise “In New York you can / be a new man.”8 “Alexander Hamilton” paints Hamilton as saved from a life of poverty and insignificance largely by his skill with words: “put a pencil to his temple, connected it to / his brain.” Bolstered by the...

Differing Paths to the Top: Gender, Ambition, and Running for Governor

This research aims to bridge together the work between ambition formation and progressive ambition through an analysis of current and former US governors and gubernatorial candidates’ political careers through in-depth interviews. Much like earlier scholarship on women’s political ambition, I conclude that women tend to be self-starters, begin their careers much later in life, and receive little party recruitment. Women, however, are more likely to take electoral risks when moving up the political career ladder, challenging incumbents at higher rates than their male counterparts, and entering races with greater levels of electoral uncertainty.

Post-Cabinet Careers of Regional Ministers in Germany, 1990–2011

The study of ministerial careers in Germany is rather new. So far it has been mainly restricted to the federal level and to the career pathways up until cabinet exit. This article, by contrast, concentrates on the post-cabinet careers of regional ministers. Drawing from the scarce literature we first sketch out career patterns of regional ministers prior to and during their time in the regional cabinet. The main focus, though, is on the post-cabinet biographies of all regional ministers in the sixteen German Länder since unification. Our empirical analysis reveals the regional cabinet as the career apex for most ministers. Looking at those ministers who do move up the political ladder after leaving the cabinet shows a clear preference for the national over the European level and the executive office over the legislative mandate. Variation in post-cabinet careers seems not only to be influenced by party, Land and ministerial office (Prime Minister vs normal minister) but also by the causes and circumstances of exit from the cabinet (exit type). These empirical results represent a first step into a new research field – lying waste since Blondel's early attempt in 1991 – and will hopefully provide a starting point for more comprehensive and comparative analysis.

Class Categories and Marriage Patterns in Rural China in the Mao Era

This article investigates how political categories of class influenced mate selection and marriage practices in rural China in the Mao era. Based on qualitative and quantitative data collected in thirty villages in three counties in Hebei in summer 2005, it examines class endogamy/heterogamy; class, patriarchy, and gender; and class differentials in marriage practices. The main findings include the following: (a) Though marriages were formed predominantly within the same class category, cross-class marriages did occur, but marriages between opposite class categories were less likely during the Cultural Revolution than during the pre– and post–Cultural Revolution periods. (b) Women did not invariably marry up or within the class categories under the context of the class hierarchy and patrilineal inheritance of class labels. Women were likely to marry down the political ladder when they gained economically from marriage, or when they achieved some freedom and independence within the family sphere by not living with in-laws upon marriage. (c) Sons, not daughters, of landlords or rich peasants, if they got married, did so at an older age, with larger spousal age gaps; middle and upper middle peasants could better finance their children’s marriages in terms of bride prices and dowries; and the children of landlords and rich peasants did not tend to marry someone from a long distance away.

Pat Nixon: Embattled First Lady

While widely admired in public opinion polls during Richard M. Nixon's disastrous presidency, Thelma Ryan “Pat” Nixon has often been written off in history as a programmed Barbie doll—“Plastic Pat,” whose pasted-on smile and canned comments brought sneers to the sophisticated. This well-researched biography, part of the Modern First Ladies series, tells the story behind that smile: Pat Nixon's steely determination to stand by a husband who failed to value her role in his administration. Bringing considerable insight to this task, Mary C. Brennan, a professor of history at Texas State University at San Marcos, had the advantage of being the first biographer to access Pat Nixon's recently opened personal papers. Having written previously on conservative women of the 1960s, Brennan draws on her knowledge of the mores of the period. In this concise account, also based on personal interviews and extensive secondary sources, Brennan shows how Pat Nixon worked tirelessly to push her husband's career as the couple moved up the social and political ladder, branding themselves as the “Pat and Dick team” (p. 29). Although her performance resonated with American voters of the mid-twentieth century, the growing emphasis on women's liberation made it seem contrived by the time the Nixons finally gained the White House in 1968. The Nixon marriage, once a true romance between two self-made individuals, a hard-working schoolteacher and an ambitious young lawyer, had frayed for reasons somewhat outside the scope of this work. Preoccupied with his political fortunes and heavily engaged with advisers who lacked respect for his wife, the increasingly bitter and vindictive president shunted his wife aside, using her only as a “prop” for public relations purposes (p. 150). In contrast to her immediate predecessor, Lady Bird Johnson, Pat Nixon had little encouragement to play a vital part in her husband's presidency.

THE MATCHING OF HETEROGENEOUS FIRMS AND POLITICIANS

We use a Chinese firm‐director panel dataset to examine the matching of heterogeneous firms and politicians. On the basis of 36,308 detailed biographies, we identify individuals who previously held bureaucratic positions and classify the rank of each position in the Chinese political hierarchy. Using this direct measure of political capital, we examine how firms with heterogeneous productivity match politicians with different political strength. Our results indicate a positive assortative matching in the political capital market. More productive firms are paired with more powerful politicians. Furthermore, the preference for political capital relative to conventional human capital increases in firms' dependence on external financing and the inefficiency of local governments. Conditional on the endogenous matching, new hires with political capital receive more compensation than their co‐workers in the same cohort. The marginal effect of a one‐step rise on the political ladder significantly exceeds the marginal effect of raising education attainment from, for example, high school to college. (JEL D21, D73, J24, J31, O12)

The Matching of Heterogeneous Firms and Politicians

We use a Chinese firm‐director panel dataset to examine the matching of heterogeneous firms and politicians. On the basis of 36,308 detailed biographies, we identify individuals who previously held bureaucratic positions and classify the rank of each position in the Chinese political hierarchy. Using this direct measure of political capital, we examine how firms with heterogeneous productivity match politicians with different political strength. Our results indicate a positive assortative matching in the political capital market. More productive firms are paired with more powerful politicians. Furthermore, the preference for political capital relative to conventional human capital increases in firms' dependence on external financing and the inefficiency of local governments. Conditional on the endogenous matching, new hires with political capital receive more compensation than their co‐workers in the same cohort. The marginal effect of a one‐step rise on the political ladder significantly exceeds the marginal effect of raising education attainment from, for example, high school to college.

Patience

Patience

Will Women Win in Clean Money States?

This article argues that while many women candidates still need to utilize private fundraising in order to climb the political ladder, clean elections will, over the long run, help recruit women to the political pipeline. The objective of this article is not to pick the better method of fundraising, but rather to identify how both private and public funding can benefit or not benefit women candidates throughout their political careers.

Scaling the political ladder

23 FOR THE past three years, the RCN has been investing in the political leadership capability of its members in the belief that, if nurses are to improve patients’ experience of the healthcare system, as well as the public’s health, they need to be leading the design, development and implementation of local and national policy. The RCN believes that this investment in political leadership needs to happen alongside leadership development at clinical (Cunningham and Kitson 2000) and board levels (Hayes 2002), and that, as a national nursing association, improving political expertise through access to political leadership programmes should be part of the package of services it offers to members. Despite calls since the early 1980s for nurses to be more politically aware, there are few countries where nurses, in articulating service user and public health issues, can be seen as having significantly affected local or national policy agendas. Shaping policies that are patient centred and designed to improve public health is an essential component of nursing leadership (Antrobus and Kitson 1999), but nurses face many challenges accessing the political arena and contributing to policymaking processes, not only in the UK but also internationally. The RCN’s Political Leadership Programme aims to prepare nurses to work at a political level (Box 1) and enables them, whether they operate clinically, strategically or already at a political level, to exert policy influence. It is primarily focused upon influencing government policy and supports nurses to lobby and communicate their messages effectively to politicians and policymakers. Sue Antrobus, Abigail Masterson and Jean Bailey describe the work of the RCN’s Political Leadership Programme to help nurses become involved in the political process, for the good of the profession and the care of patients Scaling the political ladder applied leadership

The Impact of Term Limits on State Legislators' Ambition for Local Office: The Case of Michigan's House

State legislative term limits have created major political changes in 16 states. They are also affecting intergovernmental relationships in ways that are only now becoming apparent. This article explores the argument that legislators with limited opportunities for upward mobility may choose to run for local office rather than move up the “political ladder” to a statewide or federal office. Based on the post-legislative career decisions of members of the Michigan House of Representatives from 1982 to 2000, the initial evidence suggests that legislators in Michigan are more likely to return to local government in a post-term-limit environment. Copyright 2003, Oxford University Press.

Research should not ignore the power of elite groups.

For a long time, public health research has focused on many and diverse types of vulnerable groups in society. Whether drug abusers, prison inmates, smokers, poverty-stricken, mentally ill, HIV positive, or any number of other ailments, the public health system and, in particular, researchers have addressed and reported on people and populations with so-called deficits. Research on these vulnerable groups has been designed, conducted, reported, discussed and analysed, but vulnerable groups continue and, in fact, appear to be increasing in number, size, and range. An alternative approach that begins with entirely different questions is possible and advisable. Public health research could, and in the author's point of view, should, examine the lifestyles and, specifically, decision-making by members of elite groups. Studying up the economic and political ladder calls for examination of how a few reap enormous benefits for themselves, leaving the rest of us to our misfortune. Such decisions as the elite groups make affects resource allocation, use of information, and results in the public health and other social, economic, military, and political sectors in society.

The Politics of the Rising Crime Statistics of England and Wales, 1914-1960

This article argues that between 1914 and 1960, the criminal statistics of England and Wales reflected supply-side politics rather than the amount of crime in the « real » world. After the police went on strike in 1918 their wages were increased. This led to central and local pressure to cut police numbers. Under the leadership of Sir Leonard Dunning, provincial police forces started to fight back by raising their crime statistics in order to move crime control up the political ladder. In 1930 the government accepted that crime figures would continue to rise and the Metropolitan Police, which was under Home Office control, quintupled its crime rate in three years to bring it into line with the provincial forces. The result was that in the post-Second World War period, crime control began to assume greater political salience than alternative programmes of social welfare.