Working Group 2
Mapping career patterns in the 'executive triangle of government'
Working Group 2 brings together more than 60 scholars from more than 30 countries to build the most comprehensive comparative dataset to date on the socio-demographic profiles, career trajectories, professional backgrounds, and politicisation of members of the executive triangle, including executive politicians, ministerial advisers, and top bureaucrats, across Europe and selected non-European countries.
Using a detailed codebook, the Working Group collects systematic data on demographics, education, career paths, and political experience to identify patterns and configurations of executive triangles within and across countries. The project advances comparative research on elite recruitment and career mobility, and provides a foundation for analysing how personal profiles and political experience relate to executive coordination, capacity, and the organisation of power in contemporary governments.
To date, the dataset covers more than 7,000 coded individuals across over 700 central government institutions. It offers novel evidence on who governs, how careers unfold across political, advisory and administrative roles, and how political and professional experience intersect at the apex of the state.
WG-2 is preparing the Palgrave Handbook of Careers in the Executive Triangle of Government, the first volume to present systematic cross-national evidence of this kind. The Group will meet in Zagreb on 7–8 May 2026 to discuss further comparative publications, including work on gender representation, career pathways, sectoral variation, and the expansion of the dataset across time and countries.
Prof. Jan-Hinrik Meyer-Sahling (co-lead)
University of Nottingham, UK
j.meyer-sahling@nottingham.ac.uk
Dr. Pierre Squevin (co-lead)
University of Oslo, Norway
Prof. Sylvia Veit (co-lead)
Helmut-Schmidt-University Hamburg, Germany
Prof. Kutsal Yesilkagit (co-lead)
Leiden University, Netherlands
a.k.yesilkagit@fgga.leidenuniv.nl
Dr. Inese Abolina
University of Latvia, Latvia
Nora Anter
Uppsala University, Sweden
Stelios Avdelidis
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens - Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Greece
Petra Bayerová
Univerzita Komenského, Slovakia
Tom Bellens
KU Leuven, Belgium
Dr. Anne Bellon
Universite De Technologie De Compiegne, France
Dr. Bernadette Connaughton
University of Limerick, Ireland
Dr. Levent Demirelli
Istanbul Beykent University, Turkey
leventdemirelli@beykent.edu.tr
Prof. Fabrizio Di Mascio
University of Turin, Italy
Liesa Erlewein
Universitaet Kassel, Germany
Bjorn Mo Forum
University of Oslo, Norway
Dr. Natacha Gally
Université Paris II Panthéon Assas, France
Dr. Johannes Gerken
Otto-von-Guericke Universitaet Magdeburg, Germany
Prof. Eva G Heidbreder
Otto-von-Guericke Universitaet Magdeburg, Germany
Dr. Stine Hesstvedt
Institute for Social Research, Norway
stine.hesstvedt@samfunnsforskning.no
Dr. Diana Camelia Iancu
Scoala Nationala de Studii Politice si Administrative (National University of Political Studies and Public Administration), Romania
Prof. Jolanta Itrich-Drabarek
Uniwersytet Warszawski, Poland
Dr. Jurgita Joniškiene
Vilnius University, Lithuania
Dr. Vita Juknevičienė
Vilniaus Universitetas, Lithuania
Dr. Veronika Jursová Prachárová
Slovak Governance Institute, Slovakia
Peter Kicko
Technical University in Zvolen, Slovakia
Milena Lazarevic
European Policy Centre - CEP, Serbia
Nora Leach
University of Nottingham, UK
Prof. Martin Lodge
London School Of Economics And Political Science, UK
Ari Mamshae
Universitetet I Oslo, Norway
Jovana Misailovic
Institute of Comparative Law, Serbia
Dr. Milena Muk
Institute Alternative, Montenegro
milena@institut-alternativa.org
Irena Najdov-Litl
University of Nottingham - Political Sciences, UK
Dr. Niels Opstrup
University of Southern Denmark, Denmark
Dr. Heath Pickering
KU Leuven, Belgium
Dr. Aleksandra Rabrenovic
Institute of Comparative Law - Institute of Comparative Law, Serbia
Prof. Ivan Radević
University of Montenegro, Montenegro
Prof. Tiina Randma-Liiv Tallinn
University of Technology, Estonia
Dr. Diego Alonso Salazar Morales
Institute of Public Administration, Leiden University, Netherlands
d.a.salazar.morales@fgga.leidenuniv.nl
Dr. Patrícia Silva
University of Aveiro, Portugal
Pedro Silveira
Universidade Da Beira Interior, Portugal
Dr. Mihovil Škarica
University of Zagreb Faculty of Law, Croatia
Dr. Dimitrios Sotiropoulos
University of Athens, Greece
Dr. Rahime Süleymanoğlu Kürüm
Bahcesehir University, Turkey
Dr. Kohei Suzuki
Leiden University - Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs, Netherlands
Dr. Svanhildur Thorvaldsdottir
University of Iceland, Iceland
Prof. Tatiana Tomova
Sofia University, Bulgaria
Dr. Fanni Toth
Loughborough University, UK
Dr. Eva Vanyi
Centre for Social Sciences - Institute for Political Science, Hungary
Prof. Anchrit Wille
Leiden University, Netherlands