LAUSR

ABSTRACT Although the Czech and Polish politics do not frequently make headlines in anglophone media, Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) has once again become a fulcrum of events that are analytically challenging and normatively disturbing. This paper seeks to identify patterns of elite recruitment and political careers in CEE and the relationship they bear to the democratisation of political regimes, especially changes among political elites in the context of celebritisation of politics in post-communist CEE countries. Such changes usually occur during an incremental process encompassing such issues as elite circulation, elite recruitment, representation, and the relationship between professionalisation and fragmentation of the elites. Careful analysis in an actor centred approach of how new parliamentary Polish and Czech elites were formed and changed, shows three distinct waves of politics: missionary, professional and the current wave of celebrity populism. As such, the paper explains structural factors that lead to celebritisation of politics and account for the attractiveness of celebrity populism in the region and the increasing allure of politicians representing this kind of policymaking.