Personal Style, Institutional Setting and Historical Opportunity: Prime-Ministerial Performance in Context
Personal Style, Institutional Setting and Historical Opportunity: Prime-Ministerial Performance in Context
This chapter develops a conceptual framework for systematic description and analysis of prime-ministerial leadership. It focuses particularly on the issue of the power of prime ministers. The author proposes that to understand that power and its successful deployment demands far more than an institutional analysis of prime ministers’ authority resources, it also requires an understanding of the personality (motives, world views, skills) and styles of individual office-holders, as well as a systematic analysis of how the (political, economic, cultural) context in which they operate shapes and constrains their power chances. The argument is illustrated by a comparative examination of the prime-ministerial leadership of Gordon Brown (United Kingdom), Stephen Harper (Canada), Kevin Rudd (Australia) and John Key (New Zealand) during the Global Financial Crisis of the late 2000s.
Keywords: prime minister(s), personality, leadership style, prime-ministerial power, institutional analysis, contextual analysis, Gordon Brown, Stephen Harper, Kevin Rudd, John Key, Global Financial Crisis
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