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

How have the American presidency, the British premiership and the German chancellorship changed over the last half-century? Has there been convergence or divergence in the development of political leadership in the United States and in the two largest democracies of Western Europe? What difference can individual leaders make in an ever-more complex political environment? Presidents, Prime Ministers and Chancellors addresses these questions by looking at the leadership performance of more than two dozen American presidents, British prime ministers and German chancellors of the post-war period. In so doing, it offers a unique perspective on the nature of executive leadership in Western democracies, which takes into account both the international and the historical dimension of comparison.

Table of Contents:
List of Tables and Figures List of Abbreviations Acknowledgements PART I: INTRODUCTION Studying Executive Leadership PART II: PATTERNS OF CORE EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP The United States: Variations of Presidential Predominance Britain: Prime Ministers, Cabinets, and the Struggle for Supremacy Germany: Chancellor Dominance and Coalition Rule PART III: EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP IN THE WIDER POLITICAL PROCESS The United States: Providing Leadership in an 'Anti-Leadership Environment' Britain: Executive Leadership from the Top Germany: Governing a 'Semi-sovereign' State PART IV: CONCLUSION Making Sense of Complexity: Comparative Perspectives and Conclusions Notes References Index

About the Author :
LUDGER HELMS is Heisenberg Fellow and Academic Visitor in the Department of Government at the London School of Economics and Political Science, UK. He has held previous appointments at Harvard University, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Heidelberg and at Humboldt University, Berlin.

Review :
'Ludger Helms expands our knowledge of presidents and prime ministers by this systematic comparison of two different types of parliamentary leaders, the British prime minister and the German chancellor, and the American president. The comparison is thoroughly grounded in political science concepts and literature in two continents, and in research on the ground.' - Richard Rose, University of Strathclyde, UK 'The study of the executive and of leadership within it remains curiously understudied. Ludger Helms has provided an empirically rich and theoretically informed book which will greatly help all students of comparative government.' - Gillian Peele, University of Oxford, UK