Jean Blondel

"Political leaders are the most universal, recognized, and talked about element of political life. However, the general analysis of political leadership has been little advanced. In this book Professor Blondel provides a general framework for the systematic study of leadership to make possible future empirical study and comparative analysis of political leadership. After examining the current state of political leadership studies, Professor Blondel categorizes the leaders of the world taking into account both their goals and the constraints and opportunities resulting from the environment. Important features and influences on leadership are identified: the sources of personal power, the role of leaders' own psychology and perspective, the instruments of power available to leaders, their relationship with subordinates and citizens, the influence of institutions on leadership and the impact of leaders"--Provided by publisher.

Towards a General Analysis

Political Leadership

A Genuine Case for Discontent?

Political Parties

Maurizio Cotta

Party and Government is an eleven-country study of the relationship between the governments of liberal democracies, mainly from Western Europe, but also including the United States and India, and the parties which support these governments. It examines this relationship at the three levels at which governments and parties connect: appointments, policy-making, and patronage. The emphasis is on a two-way relationship: parties influence governments but governments also influence parties. The extent and the direction of this influence varies from country to country. In some cases, governments and parties are almost autonomous from each other, as in the United States; in other cases, on the contrary, there is considerable power of one over the other: sometimes the party dominates, sometimes the government.

An Inquiry into the Relationship between Governments and Supporting Parties in Liberal Democracies

Party and Government

As condições da vida política no Estado da Paraíba

Pablo Segatti

In 2002, the second Berlusconi government, given its parliamentary strength, should have been able to implement its ambitious reform program. This 18th edition of Italian Politics examines the events of that year in light of the opportunities and the domestic and international constraints faced by Italy's center-right government. This volume discusses the actions of the Italian president, the prime minister's function within the cabinet, the overall behaviour of the government vis-a-vis Parliament, majority-opposition clashes in the legislature, foreign affairs, and economic and immigration policy. Moreover, the volume focuses on selected heated issues, including Berlusconi's conflict with the judiciary, reform of the labor market, evolution of banking foundations, and the crisis of Fiat, the nation's largest manufacturing group.

Second Berlusconi Government

External Professor European University Institute Florence Visiting Professor Jean Blondel

Jean-Louis Thiebault

Social structure may historically have been of primary importance in accounting for the attitudes and behaviour of many citizens, but now changes in social structure have diminished the role played by class and religious affiliation, whilst the significance of personality in political leadership has increased. This volume explores, both theoretically and empirically, the increasingly important role played by the personalisation of leadership. Acknowledging the part played by social cleavages, it focuses on the personal relationships and psychological dimension between citizens and political leaders. It begins by examining the changes which have taken place in the relationship among citizens, the parties which they support and the leaders of these parties in a European context. The authors then assess how far the phenomena of ‘personalised leadership’ differ from country to country, and the forms which these differences take. The book includes comparative case studies on Britain and Northern Ireland, France, Italy, Poland, Japan and Thailand; it concentrates on eleven prominent leaders epitomising personalised political leadership: Thatcher, Blair, Mitterand, Chirac, Le Pen, Berlusconi, Bossi, Walesa, Lepper, Koizumi and Thaksin. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of political science, comparative politics and political leadership.

The Personalisation of Leadership

Political Leadership, Parties and Citizens

Palle Svensson

Richard Sinnott

The power of the European Parliament has been steadily and visibly increasing in recent years. This arises from EU treaty changes and from the fact that more and more decisions are being made at the European level. At the same time, however, the already low rate of turnout in European elections has actually been declining. This powerful new study examines a seemingly paradoxical situation which has raised deep concern about the democratic deficit in the European Union. The authors analyse the concepts of participation, democracy, and legitimacy and their applicability at the European level and develop a typology of voter participation and abstention in the European context. Combining extensive new data from specially commissioned surveys in all 1994 member states with a searching review of the existing evidence, they provide a comprehensive account of the legitimacy of the European Union and examine the images of the European Parliament, citizens experiences of the 1994 campaign and their perceptions of the parties and the candidates. In an analysis that challenges existing interpretations, the institutional, demographic, and attitudinal sources of participation and abstention are fully explored. The study concludes by considering how participation and democratic representation might be enhanced, acknowledging forthrightly the obstacles and inherent limits that such efforts are likely to face.

Participation, Democracy, and Legitimacy

People and Parliament in the European Union

Heads of Government in the Postwar Period

World Leaders

Jean Blondel

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