Political Leadership, Nascent Statehood and Democracy ― A Comparative Study

Do political leaders determine whether a polity will receive a democratic future or not? Research and advocates of democracy agree on the significance of political elites for democratization, yet the need for a more specific understanding of their importance is underlined.

This book develops a theory of political leadership at nascent statehood to explain the emergence of resilient democracies. It identifies certain capacities of political leaders to address specific challenges at the critical juncture of nascent statehood as decisive to the future democratic quality of their state. The book is constructed in two parts:

• Part one develops the theoretical framework and specifies the implications for political leadership focusing on the definition of the social and political community; interaction with other elites; and the relationship between leaders and followers and the formalisation of political authority.
• Part two presents four cases studies to explore the role of leadership and democratic consolidation, or lack thereof, in India, Israel, Pakistan and the Palestinian Authority (PA). The cases are selected strategically due to the differences in facilitating a democratic change during nascent statehood, and the significance of the political leadership in this decisive period.

This book will be of interest to students and scholars of international relations, democratization studies, state building, leadership, nationalism, Middle Eastern studies and South Asian studies.

Ulrika Moller is a Lecturer in the Department Political Science at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Isabell Schierenbeck is an Associate Professor in School of Global Studies at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.