Becoming a Candidate
Political Ambition and the Decision to Run for Office

This book is about political ambition - who has it, how it is fostered and how it evolves.

Jennifer L. Lawless (Author)

9780521756600, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 16 January 2012

304 pages, 14 b/w illus. 42 tables
22.6 x 15 x 2 cm, 0.41 kg

'This is an impressive book that clearly illustrates that ambition is a dynamic and highly nuanced two-stage process: considering candidacy and deciding to run. For the scholar, there is much to ponder. For the teacher, the book is filled with many illustrative anecdotes and personal stories that make the findings accessible to a wide range of students. For the activist concerned about the quality of representation, Lawless identifies important challenges.' Cindy Simon Rosenthal, Congress and the Presidency

Becoming a Candidate: Political Ambition and the Decision to Run for Office explores the factors that drive political ambition at the earliest stages. Using data from a comprehensive survey of thousands of eligible candidates, Jennifer L. Lawless systematically investigates what compels certain citizens to pursue elective positions and others to recoil at the notion. Lawless assesses personal factors, such as race, gender and family dynamics, that affect an eligible candidate's likelihood of considering a run for office. She also focuses on eligible candidates' professional lives and attitudes toward the political system.

1. Mudslinging, money-grubbing, and mayhem: who would ever run for office?
2. The decision to run for office: the theoretical and methodological approach
3. Political ambition in the candidate eligibility pool
4. Barack Obama and 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling: sex, race, and political ambition
5. You could be president someday! Early socialization, the role of family, and political ambition
6. On-the-job training: professional circumstances and the decision to run for office
7. You think I should run for office? Political parties, political recruitment, and political ambition
8. Biting the bullet: deciding to run for office
9. Future patterns of candidate emergence and studies of political ambition.

Subject Areas: Organizational theory & behaviour [KJU], Elections & referenda [JPHF], Social & political philosophy [HPS]