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There is a long tradition in leadership research, of focusing attention on the great and successful leaders and, more recently, on issues of good governance. This study breaks new ground by looking systematically into the manifestations and causes of poor leadership and bad governance in some of the world's most powerful democracies. Focusing on the presidents and prime ministers of the G8 - the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, and Japan - it explores the complex relationship between weak and ineffective leadership, undemocratic leadership techniques

Parteien und Fraktionen zählen zu den wichtigsten politischen Akteuren in der repräsentativen Demokratie. Ihr Verhältnis zueinander wurde früh zu einem Kerngegenstand der klassischen Parteientheorie erhoben. Die moderne Parteienforschung hat gleichwohl bis heute kaum einen ernsthaften Versuch unternommen, die dominanten theoretischen Annahmen einer empirischen Überprüfung zu unterziehen. Dieser Band bietet eine umfassende Bestandsaufnahme der theoretischen und empirischen Aspekte des Themas. International ausgewiesene Länderspezialisten behandeln sowohl die interne Organisationswirklichkeit politischer Parteien als auch die Rolle von Parteien und Fraktionen auf der Ebene des politischen Systems in ausgewählten westlichen Demokratien

I. Hauptteil (systematisch-allgemeiner Teil) -- 1. Regierungsmehrheit und Opposition als Gegenstand sozial- und rechtswissenschaftlicher Forschung -- 2. Chancenprofile parlamentarischer Opposition im Vergleich (Fallauswahl) -- 3. Die formal-rechtliche Dimension des Gesetzgebungsverfahrens in den Parlamenten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Großbritanniens und Österreichs -- II. Hauptteil (empirisch-analytischer Teil) -- 1. Methodischer Zugang, Untersuchungszeitraum und Auswahl des empirischen Materials -- 2. Fallstudien zu ausgewählten Gesetzgebungsprozessen in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Großbritannien und Österreich -- Schlußbetrachtung.

One of the key defining features of Westminster-type democracies is the acknowledgement of an official Opposition and a Leader of the Opposition typically referred to as a 'prime minister in waiting'. This article focuses on this crucial element of Westminster democracy and applies a gender perspective, looking into women Leaders of the Opposition in the UK, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia (1975–2022). As this inquiry reveals, there have been few and mostly short-lived women Leaders of the Opposition. Further, contrary to plausible assumptions, there have been more women Leaders of the Opposition from conservative than from left-wing parties. In particular, however, the office of Leader of the Opposition has, with few exceptions, not proven to be a springboard to the premiership. In fact, a majority of women prime ministers were 'takeover prime ministers', inheriting the office from a predecessor from their own party, rather than former Leaders of the Opposition, while many women Leaders of the Opposition were not even given the opportunity to lead their party into a national election campaign. The article discusses possible explanations for these patterns.

AbstractPolitical opposition has long been one of the most dramatically understudied elements of real-world politics in contemporary democratic and authoritarian regimes. The past decade or so has, however, witnessed an upsurge of new opposition research that begs for a major state-of-the-field review. Interestingly, recent scholarship has focused more on manifestations of opposition in authoritarian and hybrid than in democratic systems, which indicates a latent reconceptualization of political opposition (setting aside older distinctions between regime-loyal opposition and regime-challenging forms of resistance, dissidence and contestation). With a focus on party-based forms of opposition, which have been widely considered to mark the most effective form of opposition, this review article takes stock and highlights key issues for future research as well as some inherent obstacles to the emergence of a more integrated field of cross-regime opposition studies.

Olaf Scholz emerged as the Federal Republic's ninth chancellor from a context marked by several "firsts," including in particular the absence of an incumbent chancellor seeking re-election and a competition between three chancellor candidates. While few, if any, individual elements of Scholz's profile were exceptional, the combination of elements was as unique as the wider political context. Echoing similar experiences from the Merkel years, the 2021 campaign and results suggest that in the German political context, advanced levels of personalization in the electoral arena are not dependent on any particular charisma of the competing lead candidates. In the end, Scholz, who managed to portray himself as a de facto incumbent seeking re-election, profited strongly from the perceived limitations and deficiencies of his contenders. A historical assessment of competitions for the chancellorship also reveals that the stakes for unsuccessful chancellor candidates have risen dramatically.