The Oxford Handbook of Political Leadership

by R. A. W. Rhodes, Paul 't Hart

Overview

Political leadership has made a comeback. It was studied intensively not only by political scientists but also by political sociologists and psychologists, Sovietologists, political anthropologists, and by scholars in comparative and development studies from the 1940s to the 1970s. Thereafter, the field lost its way with the rise of structuralism, neo-institutionalism, and rational choice approaches to the study of politics, government, and governance. Recently, however, students of politics have returned to studying the role of individual leaders and the exercise of leadership to explain political outcomes. The list of topics is nigh endless: elections, conflict management, public policy, government popularity, development, governance networks, and regional integration. In the media age, leaders are presented and stage-managed—spun—DDLas the solution to almost every social problem. Through the mass media and the Internet, citizens and professional observers follow the rise, impact, and fall of senior political officeholders at closer quarters than ever before.

This Handbook encapsulates the resurgence by asking, where are we today? It orders the multidisciplinary field by identifying the distinct and distinctive contributions of the disciplines. It meets the urgent need to take stock. It brings together scholars from around the world, encouraging a comparative perspective, to provide a comprehensive coverage of all the major disciplines, methods, and regions. It showcases both the normative and empirical traditions in political leadership studies, and juxtaposes behavioural, institutional, and interpretive approaches. It covers formal, office-based as well as informal, emergent political leadership, and in both democratic and undemocratic polities.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198778516
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	07/26/2016
Series:	Oxford Handbooks
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	798
Product dimensions:	6.60(w) x 9.40(h) x 1.70(d)

About the Author

R. A. W. Rhodes is Professor of Government (Research) at the University of Southampton (UK); Adjunct Professor of Government and Public Policy at Griffith University (Brisbane, Australia); and Emeritus Professor of Politics at the University of Newcastle (UK). Previously, he was the Director of the UK Economic and Social Research Council's 'Whitehall Programme' (1994-1999); Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the Australian National University (2006-11); and Director of the Research School of Social Sciences at the Australian National University (2007-8). He is the author or editor of some 30 books. He is life Vice-President of the Political Studies Association of the United Kingdom; a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia; and an Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences (UK). He has also been a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and he was editor of Public Administration from 1986 to 2011.

Paul 't Hart is Professor of Public Administration at the Utrecht School of Governance, which he joined in 2001. He is also associate Dean at the Netherlands School of Government in The Hague. He was previously at Leiden University's Department of Public Administration from 1987-2004, and has held visiting positions at the University of Canberra, Nuffield College Oxford, and the Stockholm Centre of Organizational Research (SCORE) of Stockholm University. Between 2001-2005, he was adjunct professor of public management at the Swedish Defence College in Stockholm. He has authored or edited 20 books in English and a further 14 in Dutch.

Table of Contents

1. Puzzles of political leadership, Paul t Hart and R. A. W. RhodesPart I. Thinking about political leadership: traditions and disciplines2. Leadership in Western political thought, Nannerl O. Keohane3. Theory of democratic leadership in action, Frank Hendriks and Niels Karsten4. Confucianism and political leadership, Joseph Chan and Elton Chan5. Feminism, Laura Sjoberg6. Political science, David S. Bell7. Administrative leadership, R. A. W. Rhodes8. Political psychology and the study of political leadership, Margaret G. Hermann9. Psychoanalytic perspectives on political leaders and leadership, Stanley A. Renshon10. The social psychological study of leadership, Stephen D. Reicher, S. Alexander Haslam and Michael J. Platow11. Whimpers from a dog that doesn't bark: rational choice approaches to leadership, Geoffrey Brennan and Michael Brooks12. Anthropology and political leadership, Cris ShorePart II. Studying political leadership: analytical and methodological perspectives13. Institutional analysis, Ludger Helms14. Contextual analysis, Paul t Hart15 Political leadership and decision analysis, David Brule, Alex Mintz and Karl DeRouen, Jr.16. Leaders as story-tellers: social constructionist approaches to political leadership, Keith Grint17. Rhetorical and performative analysis, John Uhr18. Experimental analysis, Rose McDermott19. Observational analysis, Francesca Gains20. At-a-distance analysis, Mark Schafer21. Biographical analysis, James Walter22. Political personality profiling, Jerrold M. PostPart III. Political leadership at work23. Civic leadership, Richard A. Couto24. Party and electoral leadership, Marina Costa Lobo25. Populism and political leadership, Cas Mudde and Cristobal Rovira Kaltwasser26. It's the singer, not the song: understanding leadership as performance, John Gaffney27. Political leadership in networks, Erik-Hans Klijn28. Political leadership in times of crisis, Chris Ansell, Arjen Boin and Paul t HartPart IV. Executive leadership in the WestPresidential leadership: the United States and beyond29. Leadership and the American presidency, David McKay30. Presidential communication from Hustings to Twitter, Jeffrey E. Cohen31. Executive leadership in semi-presidential systems, Robert ElgiePrime ministerial leadership: Westminster and beyond32. The variability of prime ministers, Patrick Weller33. The contingencies of prime ministerial power in the UK, Andrew Blick and George W. Jones34. The mortal temples of the king: prime ministers and their advisers in parliamentary democracies, Chris Eichbaum and Richard Shaw35. Cabinet ministers: leaders, team players, followers?, Rudy B. AndewegPart V. Political leadership below and beyond the national level36. Local political leaders, Colin Copus and Steve Leach37. Regional political leadership, John Wanna38. Leadership and international cooperation, Charles F. Parker and Christer Karlsson39. Leadership of international organizations, Bob Reinalda and Bertjan VerbeekPart VI. Political leadership beyond the West40. Political leadership in China, Bo Zhiyue41. Latin American leadership, Harvey F. Kline42. Post-communist leadership, Leslie Holmes43. A leadership renaissance, revolution or reversion? Probing the emerging study and scholarship on African political leadership, Gerrie Swart, Jo-Ansie van Wyk and Maryke BothaPart VII. Debating political leadership44. Training and development for political leadership, Jean Hartley45. Does gender matter?, Patricia Sykes46. What have we learned?, Jean Blondel

Editorial Reviews

..".
everyone who wants to approach the topic for one reason or another will find an extremely rich picture of the state of the art and an outstanding source of information, thought-provoking debates, and suggestions for further studies. In sum, the editors have packaged together a piece which is well worth reading and which succeeds in answering the question posed." -Political Studies Review

From the Publisher