Recruitment to legislative office is one of the core functions of political systems‎,‎ yet we know little about how the process varies from one country to another‎.‎ Passages to Power provides a comparative account of legislative recruitment which applies a common analytical framework and new survey data to nineteen advanced democracies‎.‎ Legislative recruitment refers to the critical step as people move from lower levels of politics into parliamentary careers‎.‎ Who succeeds in becoming a politician‎?‎ Who fails‎?‎ And why‎?‎ Based on original research which adopts a ‎'‎new institutionalist‎'‎ perspective‎,‎ this 1997 book compares these issues in a wide range of countries‎.‎ This important study brings together an outstanding group of international scholars to look at recruitment around the world‎.‎ The countries examined in depth include Australia‎,‎ Canada‎,‎ Finland‎,‎ Germany‎,‎ Japan‎,‎ the Netherlands‎,‎ New Zealand‎,‎ the United Kingdom‎,‎ and the United States‎,‎ along with a comparison of all member states in the European Union‎.‎