The Oxford Handbook of Political Leadership

R. A. W. Rhodes is Professor of Government (Research) at the University of Southampton (UK); Adjunct Professor of Government and Public Policy at Griffith University (Brisbane, Australia); and Emeritus Professor of Politics at the University of Newcastle (UK). Previously, he was the Director of the UK Economic and Social Research Council's 'Whitehall Programme' (1994-1999); Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the Australian National University (2006-11); and Director of the Research School of Social Sciences at the Australian National University (2007-8). He is the author or editor of some 30 books. He is life Vice-President of the Political Studies Association of the United Kingdom; a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia; and an Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences (UK). He has also been a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and he was editor of Public Administration from 1986 to 2011.Paul 't Hart is Professor of Public Administration at the Utrecht School of Governance, which he joined in 2001. He is also associate Dean at the Netherlands School of Government in The Hague. He was previously at Leiden University's Department of Public Administration from 1987-2004, and has held visiting positions at the University of Canberra, Nuffield College Oxford, and the Stockholm Centre of Organizational Research (SCORE) of Stockholm University. Between 2001-2005, he was adjunct professor of public management at the Swedish Defence College in Stockholm. He has authored or edited 20 books in English and a further 14 in Dutch.

• PART I. THINKING ABOUT POLITICAL LEADERSHIP: TRADITIONS AND DISCIPLINES; PART II. STUDYING POLITICAL LEADERSHIP: ANALYTICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES; PART III. POLITICAL LEADERSHIP AT WORK; PART IV. EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP IN THE WEST; PRESIDENTIAL LEADERSHIP: THE UNITED STATES AND BEYOND; PRIME MINISTERIAL LEADERSHIP: WESTMINSTER AND BEYOND; PART V. POLITICAL LEADERSHIP BELOW AND BEYOND THE NATIONAL LEVEL; PART VI. POLITICAL LEADERSHIP BEYOND THE WEST; PART VII. DEBATING POLITICAL LEADERSHIP

The book is written in a smooth but nonetheless rigorous way, and even non-specialists of particular disciplines can fruitfully read all the chapters ... everyone who wants to approach the topic for one reason or another will find an extremely rich picture of the state of the art and an outstanding source of information, thought-provoking debates, and suggestions for further studies. In sum, the editors have packaged together a piece which is well worth reading and which succeeds in answering the question posed.