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Deliberative Political Leaders: the Role of Policy Input in Political Leadership
[journal article]
Abstract This article provides a fresh perspective on political leadership by demonstrating that government ministers take a deliberative
approach to decision making. Getting behind the closed doors of government through 51 elite interviews in the UK, US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, the article demon... view more
This article provides a fresh perspective on political leadership by demonstrating that government ministers take a deliberative
approach to decision making. Getting behind the closed doors of government through 51 elite interviews in the UK, US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, the article demonstrates that modern political leadership is much more collaborative than we usually see from media and public critique. Politicians are commonly perceived to be powerhungry autocratic, elite figures who once they have won power seek to implement their vision. But as previous research has noted, not only is formal power circumscribed by the media, public opinion, and unpredictability of government,
more collaborative approaches to leadership are needed given the rise of wicked problems and citizens increasingly demand more say in government decisions and policy making. This article shows that politicians are responding to their challenging environment by accepting they do not know everything and cannot do everything by themselves, and moving towards a leadership style that incorporates public input. It puts forward a new model of Deliberative Political Leadership, where politicians consider input from inside and outside government from a diverse range of sources, evaluate the relative quality of such input, and integrate it into their deliberations on the best way forward before making their final decision. This rare insight into politician’s perspectives provides a refreshing view of governmental leadership in practice and new model for future research. (author's abstract)... view less
Keywords
political culture; political power; political influence; elite; career politician; political leadership; ministry; minister; decision making; decision making process; decision; behavior; political decision; deliberation; qualitative interview; international comparison; Great Britain; New Zealand; Australia; United States of America; Canada
Classification
Political Process, Elections, Political Sociology, Political Culture
Document language
English
Publication Year
2016
Page/Pages
p. 25-35
Journal
Politics and Governance, 4 (2016) 2
Issue topic
New Approaches to Political Leadership
ISSN
2183-2463
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed
Licence
Creative Commons - Attribution