Necessary asymmetry or undemocratic imbalance? Professionalisation in the recruitment and career of Belgian local councillors

Like national politicians, local representatives are claimed to become increasingly professionalised. The alleged professionalisation of the local councillor underpins a fundamental debate on the state of local politics. Does professionalisation entail an asymmetry in the councillor population that is necessary to govern localities in the twenty-first century, or is it hard to comply with the very nature of representative local democracy creating an undemocratic imbalance between professionals and laymen in local government? This article seeks to contribute to the debate by outlining the extent of, and relation between, layman politics and professionalisation in the recruitment and career of Belgian local councillors. After scrutinising these elements separately in a descriptive section, both are linked in a subsequent explanatory analysis, verifying whether professionalised recruitment in a given political system results in professionalised careers. The article uses quantitative survey data gathered from a selection of 856 Belgian local councillors