Presidents, Prime Ministers and Chancellors: Executive Leadership in Western Democracies

321 Pages·2005·2.676 MB·English

by  Ludger Helms (auth.)

Presidents, Prime Ministers and Chancellors
Also by Ludger Helms
INSTITUTIONS AND INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE IN THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF
GERMANY (editor)
PARTEIEN UND FRAKTIONEN: Ein Internationaler Vergleich (editor)
POLITISCHE OPPOSITION: Theorie und Praxis in westlichen
Regierungssystemen
POLITISCHE THEORIE UND REGIERUNGSLEHRE (co-editor with Uwe Jun)
REGIERUNGSORGANISATION UND POLITISCHE FÜHRUNG IN DER
BUNDESREPUBLIK DEUTSCHLAND (forthcoming)
WETTBEWERB UND KOOPERATION
Presidents, Prime Ministers
and Chancellors
Executive Leadership in Western
Democracies
Ludger Helms
Heisenberg Fellow and Academic Visitor
Department of Government
London School of Economics and Political Science
© Ludger Helms 2005
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2005 978-1-4039-4250-0
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Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2005 by
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Contents
List of Tables and Figures ix
Acknowledgements x
List of Abbreviations xi
Part I Introduction
1 Studying Executive Leadership 3
Classifications of Modern Executives 8
Levels of Executive Activity 11
The Choice of Countries 15
Main Currents of Executive Leadership Research 16
Key Questions and Plan of the Book 22
Part II Patterns of Core Executive Leadership
2 The United States: Variations of Presidential Predominance 27
The Political Profiles of American Post-war Presidents 27
Staffing the Cabinet and the White House Office 30
Styles of Presidential Core Executive Decision-making 36
Conclusion 55
3 Britain: Prime Ministers, Cabinets and the
Struggle for Supremacy 58
The Political Profiles of British Post-war Prime Ministers 58
Staffing the Cabinet and the Administrative Core Executive 61
Core Executive Leadership in Britain 70
Conclusion 87
4 Germany: Chancellor Dominance and Coalition Rule 90
The Political Profile of German Post-war Chancellors 90
Staffing the Cabinet and the Chancellery 95
Core Executive Leadership in Germany 103
Conclusion 120
vii
viii Contents
Part III Executive Leadership in the Wider Political
Process
5 The United States: Providing Leadership in an
‘Anti-Leadership Environment’ 127
Presidential Leadership in the Congressional Arena 127
Presidential Leadership and the Influence of other Political
Players in the American System 144
The Public Presidency 149
Conclusion 157
6 Britain: Executive Leadership from the Top 161
Executive Leadership in the Parliamentary Arena 161
The Scarcity of Institutional Barriers against Majority Rule 175
British Governments, the Public and the Media 180
Conclusion 187
7 Germany: Governing a ‘Semi-sovereign State’ 191
Executive Leadership in the Parliamentary Arena 191
Executive Leadership in a ‘Semi-sovereign State’ 205
German Governments, the Public and the Media 214
Conclusion 220
Part IV Conclusion
8 Making Sense of Complexity: Comparative Perspectives
and Conclusions 225
Executive Leadership within the Core Executive 226
Executive Leadership in the Wider Political Process 241
Manifestations of ‘Presidentialism’ in Britain and Germany 252
Concluding Remarks 259
Notes 262
References 283
Index 307
List of Tables and Figures
Tables
1.1 Selection methods of heads of state and heads of
government in sixteen West European countries
and the United States 10
1.2 Position of the head of government within the core
executive, dominant forms of government and cabinets,
average cabinet life, and institutional barriers against
majority rule in seventeen West European countries
and the United States 12
Figures
8.1 Dimensions of cabinet government 233
ix
Acknowledgements
In the course of writing this book, I enjoyed invaluable support from
various sources, and of various kinds. Generous financial support was
provided by the Thyssen Foundation and the German Research Founda-
tion. The intellectual support and feedback I received on previous drafts
and versions of this work included kind advice from a large number of
senior colleagues, most of whom could not reasonably be expected
to be prepared to share their knowledge with me. As there is, unfortu-
nately, no room here to express my sincere gratitude in more proper
terms, I just list those I feel particularly indebted to, in alphabetical
order: Klaus von Beyme (Heidelberg), Terri Bimes (Harvard), Bruce
E.Cain (Berkeley), Gert-Joachim Glaessner (Berlin), Peter A. Hall (Harvard),
George W. Jones (London), Morton Keller (Brandeis), Anthony King
(Essex), Peter Lösche (Göttingen), Stephen Padgett (Strathclyde), Gillian
Peele (Oxford), Richard Rose (Strathclyde) and Cindy Skach (Harvard).
Needless to say, all possible remaining errors are my responsibility alone.
A note of gratitude is also due to the anonymous referees who read,
and commented on, an earlier draft of this manuscript, and to my pub-
lisher, Alison Howson, at Palgrave Macmillan for her much appreciated
ability to reconcile this author’s fancies and ambitions with the increas-
ingly tough laws of global publishing.
LUDGER HELMS
x