Politics and Governance Open Access Journal | ISSN: 2183-2463 Volume 4, Issue 2 (2016) New Approaches to Political Leadership Editor Mark Bennister Politics and Governance, 2016, Volume 4, Issue 2 Thematic Issue: New Approaches to Political Leadership Published by Cogitatio Press Rua Fialho de Almeida 14, 2º Esq., 1070-129 Lisbon Portugal Guest Editor Mark Bennister, Canterbury Christ Church University, UK Editors-in-Chief Amelia Hadfield, Canterbury Christ Church University, UK Andrej J. Zwitter, University of Groningen, The Netherlands Managing Editor António Vieira, Cogitatio Press, Portugal Available online at: www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance This issue is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY). Articles may be reproduced provided that credit is given to the original and Politics and Governance is acknowledged as the original venue of publication. Table of Contents Editorial: New Approaches to Political Leadership Mark Bennister 1-4 The (Unintended) Consequences of New Labour: Party Leadership vs Party Management in the British Labour Party Emmanuelle Avril 5-14 Assessing the Performance of UK Opposition Leaders: Jeremy Corbyn’s ‘Straight Talking, Honest Politics’ Patrick Diamond 15-24 Deliberative Political Leaders: The Role of Policy Input in Political Leadership Jennifer Lees-Marshment 25-35 Explaining Japan’s Revolving Door Premiership: Applying the Leadership Capital Index Tina Burrett 36-53 Responsive to the People? Comparing the European Cognitive Maps of Dutch Political Leaders and their Followers Femke Van Esch, Rik Joosen and Sabine van Zuydam 54-67 Between Potential, Performance and Prospect: Revisiting the Political Leadership of the EU Commission President Henriette Müller 68-79 Missing Areas in the Bureaucratic Reputation Framework Moshe Maor 80-90 Contingency and Political Action: The Role of Leadership in Endogenously Created Crises András Körösényi, Gábor Illés and Rudolf Metz 91-103 Leadership in Precarious Contexts: Studying Political Leaders after the Global Financial Crisis Cristine de Clercy and Peter Ferguson 104-114 Political Leadership in Parliament: The Role of Select Committee Chairs in the UK House of Commons Alexandra Kelso 115-126 Leadership and Behavior in Humanitarian and Development Transnational Non-Governmental Organizations Margaret G Hermann and Christiane Pagé 127-137 Cursus Honorum: Personal Background, Careers and Experience of Political Leaders in Democracy and Dictatorship—New Data and Analyses Alexander Baturo 138-157 Politics and Governance (ISSN: 2183-2463) 2016, Volume 4, Issue 2, Pages 1-4 Doi: 10.17645/pag.v4i2.683 Editorial Editorial: New Approaches to Political Leadership Mark Bennister School of Psychology, Politics and Sociology, Canterbury Christ Church University, Kent, CT1 1QU, UK; E-Mail: [email protected] Submitted: 14 June 2016 | Published: 23 June 2016 Abstract This editorial introduces the special issue and considers what the articles tell us about new approaches to political lead- ership. The editorial explains how each article engages with the core puzzles of political leadership and brings together many diverse theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of political leadership, a vibrant area of study currently in the midst of an academic renaissance. Keywords chief executives; elites; leaders; party leadership; political leadership Issue This editorial is part of the issue “New Approaches to Political Leadership”, edited by Mark Bennister (Canterbury Christ Church University, UK). © 2016 by the author; licensee Cogitatio (Lisbon, Portugal). This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribu- tion 4.0 International License (CC BY). 1. Introduction growth in interest reaches across disciplines and schol- ars, from political scientists to psychologists and an- Political leadership sits at the heart of how we explain thropologists. Units of research now extend beyond the functioning of various political systems and public the traditional analysis of elected representatives and policy decision making. A myriad of approaches, formal office holders. Political leadership is exercised frameworks and concepts exist within the very broad by individuals and groups with considerable influence, field of leadership studies; an essentially contested operating in a variety of leadership zones to impact on subject area. Without a single unifying theory of lead- policy and decision making. ership, Elgie (2015) notes that the study of leadership The recent rich flowering of research presents op- is ontologically and epistemologically diverse. Such di- portunities for scholars to move the field forward. Pub- versity is in fact attractive to scholars, able to pick lications have emerged to consolidate and energise re- through a field that has yet to prioritise any one ap- search in the area. Prominent amongst these has been proach over another. It is now well established that work that makes sense of the study of leadership (Elgie leadership is the product of the interaction between 2015), the methods and analytical approaches (Rhodes leader and the environment within which the leader is & ‘t Hart, 2014), the normative democratic leader operating. This forms the fundamental paradigm of in- (Kane & Patapan, 2012), and trends in the evaluation of teractionism. But this takes us only so far and, in con- prime ministerial performance (Strangio, ‘t Hart, & trast to leadership study in the business field, political Walter, 2013). Much of this literature has sought to re- leadership study is much less coherent. At the heart of evaluate research approaches in the field, but there the interactionist paradigm, there are many ‘puzzles’ of has also been a flowering of applied research. Political political leadership in democracies. For instance, science, and other related disciplines, has sought to should leadership be promoted or constrained? And measure and theorise political leadership in order to how does leadership effect, and be effected by, the predict (or at least explain) the success and failure of contexts and situations in which it is exercised? The party leaders, heads of government, mayors, gover- Politics and Governance, 2016, Volume 4, Issue 2, Pages 1-4 1 nors, or leadership teams at the apex of government party’s leadership under Tony Blair. The ‘unintended (Rhodes & ‘t Hart, 2014, p. 150). Now, greater atten- consequences’ can be seen in the subsequent leader- tion is being paid to the leadership impact on so called ship of Jeremy Corbyn. As Patrick Diamond (2016) ex- ‘wicked’ policy issues and factoring in leadership to ex- plains, Labour elected a leader in 2015 who eschews plain policy failures in uncertain times. the Blairite organisational doctrine of electability and This special issue complements the renaissance of prime ministerial credibility in favour of position poli- interest in political leadership and bring together some tics and conscience-based policy. important new research in the field from a broad varie- ty of scholarly angles. Approaches range from the con- 3. Governance Relations: How Out of Touch Are ceptual through to the organisational and on to the Leaders from the Public? highly empirical gathering of evidence of leadership traits. Contributors ask questions to challenge some of Rich case study analysis has been a core component of the assumptions prevalent in the literature. Several of leadership study. Four articles take particular cases and these questions go to the heart of the agent-structure utilise innovative frameworks to analyse the leadership paradigm that is so embedded in interactionism. For puzzle in each. Once elected, politicians at the centre example, to what extent do leaders shape the envi- of government are portrayed as out of touch and elit- ronment in which they operate? Can leaders overcome ist, but Jenifer Lees-Marshment (2016) challenges such organisational and situational constraints to influence assumptions with a new perspective from behind the outcomes? Can leaders ‘stretch’ these institutional closed doors of government. Her ground breaking re- boundaries? How responsive are leaders to public con- search in UK, US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand cerns? To what extent do the relational aspects of found that leaders in government are refreshingly and leadership matter? Why do leaders rise and fall so surprisingly deliberative when confronting challenging swiftly? Can anti-conventional leaders be effective? environments. The tenure of Japanese prime ministers Where do non-democratic leaders come from? As citi- is famously short. Between 2006 and 2012 Japan zens invest greater expectations on those that lead to changed prime minister once a year. Tina Burrett deliver, they are easily and often let down. This special (2016) asks what factors explain Japan’s revolving-door issue presents theoretical and applied contributions premiership? To explore this puzzle, the article applies that further enhance this diversity of study and provide the Leadership Capital Index (LCI) developed by Bennis- innovative new dimensions to address some of these ter, ‘t Hart and Worthy (2015) to case studies of the puzzles. nine Japanese prime ministers holding office between The special issue therefore brings together meth- 2000 and 2015. With the crucial leader-follower rela- odological approaches that do not often sit together, tionship at the centre of their study, Femke van Esch, Rik from the theoretical to the highly empirical. With such a Joosen