Database / Data Bank

OPERA Databases / OPERA Data Bank

The empirical data presented in the CEPEL database are drawn from the O.P.E.R.A. research program (Operationalizing Programmatic Elites Research in America 1988–2010). This “Blanc” program, led by William Genieys, received funding from the French National Research Agency (250,000 euros) and ran from 2008 to 2012 (OPERA: ANR-08-BLAN-0032). The empirical study focused on the transformation of the structure of the U.S. government’s top leadership in the national defense and health insurance sectors. It resulted in the compilation of 399 biographical profiles and approximately 200 interviews.

Initially, the study focused on a population of more than 3,000 decision-makers (i.e., presidential appointees and congressional staff) from 1988 to 2010 in the health and defense sectors.
To narrow the scope of the study within these two broad areas of public policy, we focused solely on positions of power with potential decision-making authority in the context of two sector-specific reform processes: the expansion of health coverage (i.e., from Clinton to Obama) and Donald Rumsfeld’s Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA).

The aim of the research was to identify, over a long period of time, changes in the structure of the elites who potentially participate in the policy decision-making process, and then to assess their actual ability to influence the content and outcome of reforms.

The list of positions was compiled using congressional directories, which are available through the LexisNexis database:

(i) For the legislative branch, the staffers listed on the committees and subcommittees related to the public policy area under study were selected

(ii) For the executive branch, the following were included: the President’s advisors on defense and health policy; ministers and officials up to five levels below them; agency directors; and members of the relevant staffs.

Our sociography is based on the reconstruction of individual biographical profiles by cross-referencing data from various sources: institutional websites (the White House, DOD, DHHS, Congress), *Who’s Who in America?*, Leadership Library, First Street, Revolving Doors, Source Watch, Wikipedia, Lesgistorm, LinkedIn, and any other sources available on the web.