Leadership and Uncertainty Management in Politics Leaders, Followers and Constraints in Western Democracies

Through a range of international case studies from the USA, UK, France, Germany and Italy, this engaging new text examines political leadership and considers the rise in the Executive powers of Western democracies in the last few decades.

Unlike earlier assessments of the subject, which have emphasized the importance of a unified force of followers rallying behind a public figure, this volume argues that leadership can also be understood as a risk-taking venture which takes advantage of uncertainty among voters.

Assessing the conditions necessary for effective leadership, it emphasizes the part played by indecision and division amongst followers and shows that political leadership can be a cause in itself, which cannot be reduced to a mere consequence of a chain of previous events.

Agnès Alexandre-Collier is Professor of British Studies at the University of Burgundy, Dijon, France. She is the author of several books including Anatomie des droites européennes, with Xavier Jardin (2004); Les habits neufs de David Cameron; Les conservateurs britanniques, 1990-2010 (2010); and Les partis politiques en Grande-Bretagne, with Emmanuelle Avril (2013).

François Vergniolle de Chantal is Professor of American Politics at Paris Diderot University, France. He is the co-director of the journal Politique Américaine. His forthcoming book L'impossible présidence impériale. Le contrôle législatif aux Etats-Unis will be published in 2014.

List of Tables and Figures
Acknowledgements
Notes on Contributors
1. Introduction; Agnès Alexandre-Collier and François Vergniolle de Chantal
2. Is Senatorial Leadership even possible? The Deadlock of the American Upper Chamber; François Vergniolle de Chantal
3. The Office Holder: John Boehner as Speaker of the US House of Representatives; Alix Meyer
4. Tony Blair's Leadership Style in Foreign Policy: Hubris Without Constraints?; Pauline Schnapper
5. From Dewar to Salmond: The Scottish First Ministers and the establishment of their leadership; Gilles Leydier
6. Political Leadership and the Instrumentalization of the Media: Général de Gaulle between Politics and the Military (1958-1962); Julia Heinemann
7. Silvio's Party; Nicolas Bonnet
8. Leader of my Heart! Use of Twitter by Leaders' Partners during Election Campaigns; Alex Frame and Gilles Brachotte
9. Leadership and the European Debate from Margaret Thatcher to John Major; Karine Tournier-Sol
10. The Temptation of Populism in David Cameron's Leadership Style; Agnès Alexandre-Collier
11. Leadership Elections and Democracy in the British Labour Party; Emmanuelle Avril
12. The (Seeming) Power of (Seemingly) Leaderless Organizations: The Tea Party Movement as a Case Study; Aurélie Godet
13. Petra Kelly – Charismatic Leadership in the German Peace Movement; Saskia Richter
14. Ericha Steinbach – the Last Charismatic Representative of the Expellees?; Lionel Picard
15. Edward Heath – the Failed Leadership of an Uninspiring Leader; Laetita Langlois
16. When the President is not really the boss: The Mysterious Case of Ronald Reagan's Presidential Leadership; Françoise Coste
17. Conclusion; Agnès Alexandre-Collier and François Vergniolle de Chantal