DEMOCRATIZATION AND POLITICAL PROFESSIONALIZATION IN ROMANIA Formal rules and informal practices

The turnover of elites and negotiations on the new criteria for public office-holding are decisive factors in changing a political system. In postcommunist countries, the principles of elite recruitment are still, long after the break in 1989, disputed. Focusing on ministerial cabinets in Romania, this article draws attention to the tension between the classic indicators used to analyze political careers (suggesting a gradual professionalization) and the continuity in the pattern of operating politically through semiprivate networks. It is difficult to assess whether the changes observed in the elites correspond to a professionalization or, on the contrary, an oligarchization.