ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the political career of county councillors in Europe, including reflections on the possibility of a preceding and consecutive political career in a multi-level context. It discusses the analytical framework that will structure the empirical scrutiny of councillors' careers. The framework introduces our four analytical dimensions of the councillor career and operationalises those applying specific items of the questionnaire to substantiate the ideal-typical features of the layperson: professional continuum per dimension. The chapter argues that the layperson model of career development would be characterised by councillors for whom the county council mandate has been the base office. It also discusses empirical part of the study analyses the political careers of the county councillors across Europe along the lines of the layperson: professional continuum per dimension. Finally, the chapter outlines the main features of the political career development of county councillors at the individual level according to the logic of professionalization.
