significance
In some respects the subject of political leadership appears to be outdated. The divisions of society into leaders and followers is rooted in a pre-democratic culture of deference and respect in which leaders 'knew best' and the public needed to be led, mobilise or guided. Democratic pressures may not have removed the need for leaders, but they have certainly placed powerful constraints upon leadership, notably by making leaders publicly accountable and establishing institutional mechanisms through which they can be removed. in other respects, however,the politics of leadership has become increasingly significant. for instance, to some extent democracy it self has enhanced the importance of personality by forcing political leaders, in effect,to 'project themselves' in the hope of gaining electoral support. this tendency has undoubtedly been strengthened by modern means of mass communication which tend to emphasise personality rather than policies,and provide leaders with powerful weapons with which to manipulate their public images. furthermore, as society becomes more complex and fragmented, people may increasingly look to the personal vision of an individual leader to give coherence and meaning to the world in which they live.
the question of political leadership is nevertheless surrounded by deep ideological controversy. Its principal supporters have been on the political right,influenced by a general belief in natural inequality and a broadly pessimistic view of the masses. in its extreme form this was reflected in the fascist 'leader principle' , which holds that there is a single, supreme leader who alone is capable of leading the masses to their destiny, a theory derived from friedrich Nietzsche's (1844-1900) notion of the superman
amongst the supposed virtues of leadership are the following:
-it mobilises and inspires people who would otherwise be inert and directionless;
-it promotes unity and encourages members of a group to pull in the same direction;
-it strengthens organisations by establishing a hierarchy of responsibilities and roles.
liberals and socialists, on the other hand, have usually warned that leaders should not be trusted leadership as a basic threat to equality and justice. nevertheless,this has not prevented socialist regimes from employing leadership systems, and, in the case of Lenin's (1870-1924) theory of the vanguard party, they have sometimes stressed the need for political leadership.
the alleged dangers of leadership include the following:
-it concentrates power,and can thus lead to corruption and tyranny, hence the democratic demand that leadership should be checked by accountability;
-it engenders subservience and deference, thereby discouraging people from taking responsibility for their own lives;
-it narrows debate and argument, because of its emphasis upon ideas flowing down from the top, rather than up from the bottom