Gender and political leadership : moving beyond stereotypes

This short paper suggests that the categories of ‘transformational’ and ‘transactional’ leadership styles ( see Burns 1972) may provide analytical purchase on the question of whether current women leaders have radically different styles and approaches to the earlier second wave feminist generation. The two cases chosen for this paper are the senior women in the Labor and Liberal Parties – Julia Gillard and Julie Bishop. The evidence – explored below – indicates there are strong transactional qualities to both women leaders.

Political Leadership and Public Support In Belarus: Forward to the Past?

Korosteleva-Polglase Elena, White, S., 'Political Leadership and Public Support In Belarus: Forward to the Past?', In: 'The EU and Belarus: Between Moscow and Brussels', (London: Kogan Page), pp.51-71, 2001 RAE2008

From the comforts of print to the possibilities of digital media: leading the way in teaching political leadership in a faculty of arts

Since it inception, Deakin University has been committed to the delivery of innovative, high quality course materials to its off campus students. Until recently these packages were predominantly print based, although augmented with audio-visual materials delivered in cassette format. Ironically, with the advent of information and communications technologies (ICT), and some select computer assisted learning and multimedia packages, there was an overall decline in the use of audio and video as important means of enhancing learning. Like many other universities, Deakin has moved to a strong, centralised approach to the provision of its digital and online corporate technology environment. With investment in these technologies has come a renewed interest in the ways in which text and audio-visual materials in digital form can enhance students' learning experiences. Moreover, the ways in which a variety of digital media supported by online developments can create new models and approaches to teaching/learning has figured prominently. This paper presents a case study of how this challenge has been taken up in a unit, Political Leadership, in the Faculty of Arts. The academic teacher's intentions in moving to a completely digital approach are examined along with students' experiences of learning in the subject. Issues are considered from the experience.

Protocol, image, and discourse in political leadership competition:the case of Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, 1997-2002

This article examines the relationship between Prime Minister Jospin and President Chirac in the period 1997 to 2002. It is concerned in particular with symbolism, discourse and protocol, and how these have mediated the political competition between Chirac and Jospin. We develop a framework of analysis with several main strands. We consider the effects of the institutions of the Fifth Republic upon the political conduct of Prime Minister and President. We observe the perceived character traits of the individuals concerned, as well as the character traits expected of the offices of President and Prime Minister. We investigate the influence of the past upon the behaviour of Chirac and Jospin in the present, both in terms of notions of regime crisis which configured the institutions in the first place, and in relation to the image of previous holders of the offices (especially Charles de Gaulle and Franois Mitterrand).

Imagined relationships: political leadership in contemporary democracies

The image and style of political leaders are important elements of leadership, and of politics generally. They are related to both political culture and institutions, and are framed in ritual and ceremony. In democratic policies, where there is choice rather than coercion, the mediation of leadership/people relations creates imagined relationships between imagined leaders and their equally imagined interlocutors, the people or the electorate (who also, of course, actually exist). These relationships form part of the political process. By identifying, and adapting, classical Aristotelian distinctions in rhetorical studies, we can better understand this element or moment of the process, in particular the creation of an imagined intimacy in contemporary politics between leaders and followers. Political science should draw upon other disciplines and subdisciplines such as political psychology, cultural studies, rhetorical analysis, and social anthropology in order to understand how mediated relationships are inscribed into political institutions and exchange.

Political leadership in France:from Charles de Gaulle to Nicolas Sarkozy

Political Leadership in France analyzes changes which have taken place over the last 50 years in French politics. When Charles de Gaulle came to power in 1958 the drama surrounding the Fourth Republic's collapse and the focus on an exceptional individual meant that he was able to confer a very particular style of leadership on the new Fifth Republic. De Gaulle's 'performance' was such that he transformed the nature of leadership politics in France, increasing the scope for personal leadership and the emphasis upon the exalted leader. This had major implications for the republic's institutions and for the role of political parties. The five Presidents who came after him – Pompidou, Giscard, Mitterrand, Chirac, and Sarkozy, as well as contenders for the presidency such as Segolene Royal and François Hollande – have each capitalized upon their own political 'persona' and their relationship to the French people. Gaffney takes a new approach to the subject, looking at the mythological and cultural as well as institutional conditions of political performance. This paperback edition includes a new preface.

Political leadership:character and performance. A comparative analysis of British political leadership, 1997-2010.

Classical and contemporary scholarship on leadership has referred to political performance and the ability of political actors to deploy the self to political purpose. Literature on contemporary British politics (Hennessy, 2001; Marquand, 2008, King, 2009) has highlighted the qualitative shift in political leadership from the mid-1990s towards a focus upon the image, style, celebrity and performance of political leaders, and the shift towards the presidentialisation or semi-presidentialisation of the prime minister (Foley, 2001). However, the literature has lacked a focus upon political performance and a methodology for assessing leadership performance within cultural and institutional contexts. This thesis assesses British political leadership performance from 1997-2010 through the proposal of a framework of political performance to suit comparative purpose. The framework consisting of culture, institutions and performance is used to assess the performance of the case studies (Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron, and Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg in the televised Leaders’ Debates of 2010). The application of the framework to the case studies will allow us to a) analyse political performance within given cultural and institutional contexts; b) establish the character traits and other aspects of a politician’s political persona; and c) appraise the role and effects of performance and persona upon the political process.

Political leadership and the politics of performance:France, Syria and the chemical weapons crisis of 2013

This article draws upon developments in UK research on political rhetoric and political performance in order to examine the incident in 2013 when French President François Hollande committed French forces to a US-led punitive strike against Syria, after the use of chemical weapons in a Damascus suburb on 21 August. The US-led retaliation did not take place. This article analyses Hollande's declaration on 27 July and his TV appearance on 15 September. His rhetoric and style are best understood as generic to the nature of the presidential office of the Fifth Republic. The article concludes by appraising how analysis of the French case contributes to the developing literature on rhetoric, celebrity and performance.

The analysis of political will and its role in leadership: a study of portuguese mayors

This thesis analyses the concept of Political Will, suggests its operationalization and establishes a typological theory that provides the necessary support for the diverse strategies of action of a leader. It claims that political leadership styles articulate a choice of action that results from the Political Will of a leader, which is determined by his intention and his discerned possibilities to act. One main research question guided our research: How does a political leader select and change his leadership style? The most illustrative literature on political leadership is reviewed and the characteristics of democratic governance are analyzed. This is followed by an overview of the most noteworthy theories on the theme and a claim for the need of concept coherence, given the multiplicity of the existent standpoints. After that, we concentrate on leadership styles, with a focus on the local governance context. Human action and intentionality are addressed with particular attention, as well as the motivational drivers for action, in order to advance a conceptualization of Political Will through two dimensions: intention and possibility. This analysis led to a number of relevant propositions: (1) Political Will ‘exists’ when the agent has the intent and the possibility to act; (2) these two dimensions ‘translate’ simultaneously what the agent believes he must do and can do; (3) Intention and possibility reflect diverse but limited worldviews; (4) political leadership styles result from the agent’s Political Will; (5) different combinations of the expected and actual worldviews result in different leadership styles; and (6) political leadership styles can change accordingly to several strategies which allow conformity or reflect reaction to worldviews. We suggested the operationalization of the two dimensions of Political Will through the analytical tool of Grid-group Theory, which provided the identification of the heuristic devices that allowed further comprehension on the subjectivity of the agent’s choice. Four standard property spaces – representing four types of leadership styles – result from a preliminary approach to this process. Afterwards, and because these dimensions operate simultaneously, we advance on the analysis and suggest some plausible heuristical conflicts to happen and describe which consequences, strategies and type migrations are conceivable. An inclusive and more complete set of resulting property spaces renders fourteen different types of leadership styles and sixty different predictable causal paths that result from the expected migration strategies. Case-studies were conducted as plausibility probes designed to provide improvements to our theoretical claims and addressed the cases we selected for research purposes: Portuguese Mayors. The findings from five case studies are discussed and the probable impact and congruence of each with the theoretical claims are assessed. The communalities of the causal mechanisms related to the function of intention and possibility as the dimensions of Political Will and their role in explaining different leadership styles are, finally, addressed. To conclude, we advance some repercussions, mainly in the public policies field of research, and suggest a number of different and necessary paths for further work.

Le leadership interstitiel, le champ d'action des Amérindiens ou le pouvoir dans la marge : l'exemple de la communauté algonquine de Kitigan Zibi (Québec)

Quel est le champ d’action des Amérindiens dans le contexte politique canadien? Malgré les tentatives de l’État canadien de briser la structure politique traditionnelle des Autochtones en introduisant le système électif et politique du conseil de bande, ceux-ci sont loin d'avoir été des victimes passives. L'étude du leadership interstitiel est la ligne directrice de cette thèse car il est la clé d’une pratique politique « in the cracks » qui confère un pouvoir marginal aux Amérindiens. En s'intéressant aux conditions historiques et sociales de déploiement de l’arène politique en milieu de réserve, il est possible de comprendre la quotidienneté et la contemporanéité de l’exercice du pouvoir au sein d’une population minoritaire fortement politisée. La recherche ethnographique porte sur la politique locale de la communauté algonquine de Kitigan Zibi (Québec). L’analyse des acteurs anishnabeg a montré une variabilité du leadership politique chez les Algonquins et l’existence de différents types de leader malgré l’imposition d’une fonction de chef par la Loi sur les Indiens. Le contrôle des affaires politiques officielles d’une bande par les agents coloniaux, c'est-à-dire les missionnaires et les agents indiens, n’a pas donné lieu à un contrôle total de sa dynamique politique interne et de ses membres. L'enquête de terrain a dévoilé que les diverses manifestations et actions politiques menées par les Anishnabeg s’avèrent être des stratégies du pouvoir dans la marge, une forme quotidienne de résistance face aux nouvelles façons de faire la politique établies par les autorités canadiennes, des ruses et des tactiques employées pour tenter de changer le système formel en remettant en question le pouvoir des Affaires indiennes. La contestation et la résistance ne sont toutefois pas l’unique moteur du leadership et de la politique amérindienne. En fait, le leadership politique chez les Kitigan Zibi Anishnabeg est aussi basé sur diverses représentations (traditionnelles, spirituelles, symboliques) qui ont permis aux Algonquins de préserver une identité politique malgré certaines ruptures et transformations introduites dans leur société par les colonisateurs. Les ambiguïtés, les contradictions et les paradoxes de la quotidienneté politique d’une bande autochtone ne sont pas que le résultat de la rencontre d’un univers politique Autre, mais aussi l’aboutissement de l’évolution et de la reconstruction d’un système sociopolitique traditionnel et de ses dynamiques internes reliées au pouvoir, d’une redéfinition de l’autorité et de la légitimité du politique, de l'essor de leaders nouveau genre pour répondre adéquatement aux exigences politiques de la vie en réserve. La politique de réserve n’est pas une chose concrète mais plutôt une dynamique dans un temps et dans un lieu donné, au chevauchement culturel de diverses traditions politiques et formes d’autorité, au truchement de divers espaces (imposé ou symbolique) et institutions (formelle et informelle). Les Algonquins se renouvellent continuellement politiquement au sein de leur système. Ceci n’est pas un effet de l’acculturation, d’une hybridité ou de la modernité mais relève bien de la tradition. Le rattachement de fonctions et dynamiques traditionnelles à la structure formelle constitue un début de gouvernance « par le bas ». Cette dernière renouvelle de l’intérieur, par l’établissement d’un dialogue, la relation entre les leaders autochtones et les représentants de l’État, ce qui donne aux acteurs locaux une marge de manœuvre. Les Algonquins ont saisi les incompatibilités des deux systèmes – blanc et autochtone – pour définir un nouveau territoire, « in the cracks », qui devient leur domaine d’action. L'analyse de la flexibilité du leadership algonquin, de la vision eurocanadienne du leadership amérindien, de l’usage instrumental des exigences de l’État, des élections et des éligibles contemporains, de l'empowerment des femmes algonquines et du leadership féminin en milieu de réserve, a révélé que le leadership interstitiel est une force politique pour les Kitigan Zibi Anishnabeg. En portant un regard critique sur la politique locale dans le quotidien d'une bande et en incluant les voix autochtones, il est possible d’observer le processus de décolonisation et des formes embryonnaires de pratiques postcoloniales au sein des réserves. Cette recherche a démontré que le chef et les autres leaders sont au cœur de cette dynamique politique dans les marges, de l’essor et de l’émancipation politique de leur bande.

Democratic Transition and Political Patronage

Mr. Korosenyi begins by analysing the particular relationship holding between politics and administration in different countries. Within Europe three major patterns have emerged in the 20th century. Firstly there is the politically neutral British Civil Service, secondly the German and French state bureaucracies, which traditionally are supposed to embody the "common good", and thirdly there is the patronage system of the so-called consociate democracies, e.g. Austria. In general Mr. Korosenyi believes that, though politics do not penetrate into the Hungarian administration to the extent they do in Belgium and Austria, nevertheless, there is a stronger fusion than there is in the traditional British pattern. He is particularly interested in this relationship with regard to its effect on democratic institution building and the stabilisation of the new regime in Hungary, now the old "nomenklatura" system has been abolished. The structure of the Hungarian government was a result of the constitutional amendments of 1989 and 1990. Analysing this period, it becomes clear that for all the political actors who initiated and supported the democratic transition to democracy, the underlying assumption was a radical depoliticisation of the administration in order to maintain its stability. The political leadership of the executive is a cabinet government. The government is structured along ministries, each headed by a politician, i.e. the minister, who is a member of the cabinet. The minister's political secretary is not a cabinet member, but he or she is a politician, usually a member of the parliament. The head of the administration of the ministry is the administrative state secretary, who is a civil servant. He or she usually has four deputies, also civil servants. Naturally it is assumed that there should be a clear separation between politicians and civil servants. However in practice, the borders can be blurred, giving rise to a hybrid known as the "political civil servant". Mr. Korosenyi analyses the different faces of these hybrids. They are civil servants for the following reasons. They need special educational qualifications, working experience, a civil service exam etc., they are not allowed to do anything which is incompatible with their impartial role, and they cannot occupy political office nor may they appear in the name of any political party. On the other hand, the accepted political dimension to their function is revealed by the following facts. The state secretary (a civil servant) may participate in cabinet meetings instead of the minister. The state secretary is employed by the minister. A state secretary or any of their deputies can be dismissed at any time by the minister or the prime minister. In practice then, ministers appoint to these senior administrative positions civil servants whose personal and political loyaties are strong. To the second level of political patronage in ministries belong the ministerial cabinet, press office and public relation office. The ministerial cabinet includes the private advisors and members of the personal staff of the minister. The press office and the PR office, if they exist, are not adjusted to the administrative hierarchy of the ministry, but under the direct control of the minister. In the beginning of the 1990s, such offices were exceptions; in the second half of the 90s they are accepted and to be found in most ministries. Mr. Korosenyi's work, a 92-page manuscript of a book in Hungarian, marks the first piece of literature within the field of political science which analyses the structure of the Hungarian government in the 1990s and the relationship between the political leadership and the public administration.

Global factors affecting women's participation in leadership

This dissertation is a multi-level, cross-cultural study of women in leadership conducted with both macro-society data and individual-level data aggregated to the country level. The research questions are, “What macro and micro forces are hindering or advancing women into business or political leadership?” “How do these forces impact the level of women's involvement in business and political leadership in a particular country?” Data was collected from 10 secondary sources, available for 213 countries, and includes about 300 variables for business leadership (N=115) and political leadership (N=181). To date, most women in leadership research has been Western- or US-based, and little rigorous empirical, multi-level research has been done across countries. The importance of cross-cultural studies on women in leadership stems from the potential to better understand why some countries have more women in positions of both business and political leadership; and the factors that affect women's involvement in such positions in different countries. A “Levels of Women's Participation in Leadership” country model is tested using cluster and discriminant analyses. Results indicate that the factors that affect women?s participation in leadership in countries with fewer women leaders are different from the factors that affect women's participation in countries with high levels of participation. This dissertation proposes that initiatives to increase participation of women in leadership need to consider the relevant factors that significantly affect countries at certain Levels of Women's Participation in Leadership. ^