The research project “Parliamentary Careers in Comparison” aims to investigate political careers and activities of parliamentary candidates and parliamentarians in Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands since the Second World War. Based on an extensive collection of individual-level data, we investigate biographical and behavioural data to obtain a full and dynamic picture of parliamentary careers. The research interests covered by the project cover three broad areas. The first set of questions revolves around career paths on different levels, how they typically develop, and how these patterns can be explained. With the second set of questions we focus on the impact of political institutions on political careers while a third strand highlights the consequences of the different career paths on parliamentary behaviour and future post-parliamentary careers.
