Dispersed Democratic Leadership

Dispersed Democratic Leadership examines both the scope and consequences of the dispersal of the leadership role in democratic societies, a topic that has been relatively neglected by a political science literature dominated by studies of executive power. Individual chapters investigate the many loci of leadership found in modern democracies, some ancient and some newly emergent, some institutionalized and some ad-hoc, some self-consciously political and some avowedly a-political. In assessing the effects of leadership dispersal, the book argues that understanding how policies are shaped in a democracy requires balancing the usual person-centered approach with one that is more contextual, institutional, and relational. The public leadership role of people in business, the media, non-governmental organizations, bureaucracy, law, show-business and many other areas are instructively investigated to enhance our appreciation of the complexity of democratic political systems and to allow us to assess the effects, both good and ill, of democratic leadership dispersal.

John Kane is Professor of Politics and Public Policy and Deputy Director of the Centre for Governance and Public Policy at Griffith University in Australia. His research interests include political theory, political leadership, foreign policy and public management. He is the author of numerous articles in books and international journals, co-editor of Rethinking Australian Citizenship and Dissident Democrats, and author of The Politics of Moral Capital and Between Virtue and Power.

Haig Patapan is Professor of Politics and Public Policy at Griffith University in Australia. His research interests include political theory, political leadership and democratic governance. He is the author of Judging Democracy and Machiavelli in Love, and coeditor of Globalization and Equality, Westminster Legacies , and most recently, Dissident Democrats.

Paul 't Hart is Professor of Political Science at Australian National University and Professor of Public Administration at Utrecht University. His research interests include public leadership, political psychology, crisis management, and policy analysis. He has (co)authored or (co)edited 25 books, including Groupthink in Government, Beyond Groupthink, Success and Failure in Public Governance, The Politics of Crisis Management, and Governing After Crisis.