ABSTRACT
Politics in contemporary democracies are characterized by the multiplication and fragmentation of interests, the growing importance of identity politics, and other challenges such as financial and economic crises, increased immigration, accelerated social change, and the rise of populism. Political elites—(self-)selected and elected to safeguard democratic consensus and the balance of interests—are witnessing uneasy times in which not only their decisions, their legitimacy, their autonomy and the security of their positions—in short: their status—are questioned. Moreover, representative democracies as the institutional framework of democratic elitism get under pressure themselves. This chapter outlines theoretical considerations and trajectories of empirical research on the change and stability of political elites at the beginning of the 21st century. It argues that the multiple challenges to the status of political elites and their responses will lead to further elite-differentiation.
