Australasian Political Studies Association Conference 2003
Hosted by the School of Government
University of Tasmania

Political Theory Stream

We The People: The Problem of Democratic Leadership

Dr Haig Patapan
Senior Lecturer
School of Politics and Public Policy
Griffith University, Queensland

Abstract:

Leadership has an ambiguous place in democracy. Democracy as a regime needs leaders and indeed admires the 'strong' leader. At the same time leadership and rule are at profound tension with equality and freedom, the core principles of democracy. By examining the problem of leadership in both 'direct' and 'representative' democracy the paper argues that democracy inevitably sustains a twofold, dynamic politics, one based on substantive issues and the other based on legitimacy of leadership itself, a politics that both limits and is exploited by democratic leaders.