OxPol Blogcast showcases research, analysis, insights, and experiences from the members of the University of Oxford’s Department of Politics and International Relations (DPIR), and specialist guests from the Oxford academic community and beyond. Are masculine behaviour and appearance among the prerequisites for electoral success, in line with popular belief? On this episode, OxPol Blogcast host Anastasia Bektimirova is joined by Dr. Rachel Bernhard, an Associate Professor at the University of Oxford’s Department of Politics and International Relations (DPIR), to put the view of the political arena as a place favouring conventionally masculine traits to a test. Focusing on the United States, Rachel explains what is understood as masculinity and femininity in political leadership, and guides us through the observed variation in voters’ response to those cues. We also discuss …

One of the most critical questions of modern comparative politics is: who governs? The first thing that would come to mind would be party politicians. However, transformations in several European countries’ governmental arena indicate that partisan presence in office, and, more broadly, the general model of party government, characterised by parties’ centrality in representing the needs and demands of citizens, is in decay. Such a decline owes much to the increased government involvement of technocratic personnel – i.e., ministers with no political affiliation. Indeed, while Italy established itself as the promised land of technocracy, currently led by Mario Draghi and by four technocratic prime ministers in the last two decades, technocratic ministers have also entered the last three partisan governments …