Morrell, K. and Hartley J. (2006) ‘A Model of Political Leadership’, Human Relations, 59(4): 483-504.

A Model of Political Leadership

In this paper we develop a model of political leadership.  In doing so, we analyse the challenges facing leaders in local government in England and Wales.  We use this analysis as a basis for broader theorising: about leadership at other levels of government, and in other countries.  The scope for applying extant accounts of leadership in these domains can be enhanced by considering the relational complexities that characterise the environment within which political leaders act; by doing so we offer an agenda for research.  We describe the context for political leaders in terms of figurational sociology, where figurations denote interdependent networks of social relations.  These take shape in different arenas of action, and are partly influenced by the different roles that political leaders undertake.  These figurations are also constituted differently given the diversity inherent in the context for enacting political leadership.  We propose a conceptual model that serves both as a heuristic framework to organise conceptualisation of this understudied area, and to orient future research.