Political leadership

Political leadership has traditionally been a relatively minor subfield in Australian political science, notwithstanding the fact that biography has long been a staple for investigating leaders. In common with other comparable democracies, however, the early twenty-first century has witnessed a surge of activity in leadership studies. This chapter explores this intensified research endeavour, identifies its catalysts, delineates and surveys the major currents of that scholarship, and points out its limitations. Among the currents of recent leadership research the chapter surveys are: the belated emergence of debates on the theme of leadership centralization; the hardy perennials of biography and memoir; theoretical borrowings from United States presidential literature; gender and leadership; and leadership rhetoric.