Unity in diversity?

Within the context of the newly developing research on European actors, this book provides a micro-sociological in-depth analysis of a specific political elite within the European institutions, the positional elite in the European Parliament. Moreover, for the first time, the mutual perception of the attitudes and behavioural patterns of MEPs from “older” and “newer” member states after the 2004 enlargement is in the spotlight.
Departing from a broad reception of classical and recent elite literature and based on a sound qualitative empirical investigation, the book draws a detailed picture of the heterogeneity of this European political elite which may even help to better seize the dynamics of “laboratoire Europe” itself. The rich interview material supports the central theses of the specific figuration of a European positional elite within the EP as well of an internal heterogeneity of this elite – despite discernable commonalities. Furthermore, the interview extracts provide most interesting insights into today"s processes of the Europeanization of political elites.