Political Contexts
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Project overview
2023
- Political Contexts2023
While research on poverty and political exclusion is omnipresent in the social sciences, the field of research on political and economic elites is rarely addressed. One reason for this is that the compartmentalization of one’s own political activity can appear to be an instrument of power in itself. At the same time, however, the connections of the elites are of great interest to the public. Attending the same school or working in the same company can lead to personal ties, which in turn can influence decision-makers to the detriment of society. For example, a close relationship between legislators and business elites, such as CEOs and senior managers, can lead to policies that are more in line with the interests of specific companies than the interests of the public. At the other extreme, a complete lack of connections between political and business elites could lead to policies that completely disregard economic concerns. The link between elite connections and political inequality is therefore the main motivation for this project. The main objective is to compile a comprehensive global data set on political and economic elites. It will consist of a network matrix that shows the connections between individuals and allows us to visualize and analyze the relationships of elites within and between the economic and political spheres. In the initial phase of this project, we will manage the construction of this dataset, focusing on Germany and Uganda.