Political Careers of Ministers and Prime Ministers

The concept of career, while ubiquitous in elite research, has hardly received any comprehensive analytical treatment in the study of political executives. This chapter will summarize and develop the basic theoretical and methodological approaches as well as empirical findings of studies investigating political careers of cabinet members in democratic parliamentary and semi-presidential systems at the national level. It is divided into three sections. The first provides a sketch of the basic research questions that have been raised (and discussed) in the field of executive careers studies over the past decades. The second part offers a systematic survey of the current state of the literature concerned with ministers’ and prime ministers’ political careers. The third section presents some avenues for future research, including the potential for further theoretical and methodological improvement, followed by some concluding remarks.

Anticipated but Unwelcome

This article provides the latest trends in the gas turbines market and their future outlook. The last three years of operation have generated more profit for the commercial airline industry than the previous 30 years combined. That money has led to new orders for commercial aircraft and as a result, production of commercial aviation gas turbines is in full swing. Engine manufacturers such as Pratt&Whitney, Rolls-Royce, General Electric, Safran, and others have taken this surge in orders as an incentive to develop new technology. The launch of a new jet engine by a manufacturer can be a multi-billion dollar effort. Financial projections and executive careers hang on a smooth roll-out of the new technology.