A research report submitted to the School of Literature, Language and Media in the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Journalism and Media Studies by combination of coursework and research, Johannesburg, 2016 / This research report examines news media representation of political leadership and governance in South Africa between 2007 and 2013, when President Jacob Zuma served his first terms as ANC leader and later as the head of state. The research sought to find out what themes and ideas exist about political leadership in news media more than 20 years since the advent of democracy. Quantitative manifest content analysis is utilised to analyse newspaper articles from the City Press, Mail & Guardian, the Sunday Independent and the Sunday Times. The results show that media representation of political leadership is most discussed in opinion articles and editorials and relies on key democratic concepts such as freedom of expression and freedom of the media. The key themes and ideas that emerge include the personalisation of leadership, defining leadership, debate on how to lead, Zuma’s own leadership traits versus expectations and it became clear that news media evaluated Zuma as head of state or leader of the nation more often than as president of his party. / XL2018

The proposed study intended to identify the public education agenda and the success of implementation of this agenda of four Presidents: Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, William Clinton, and George W. Bush. In addition, the study aimed to indentify if any of the above listed Presidents can be categorized as charismatic leaders as defined by Charismatic Leadership Theory and if this categorization can be linked to the determined success or failure of the agenda implementation. This was done using two research methods, document and content analysis, on such documents as presidential speeches and writings, speeches and writings of the Secretary of Education, biographies and autobiographies, editorials from three major newspapers, writings from people working closely with the Presidents, writing of political analysts, and writing of Senate and House majority leadership. The study found the education agendas of the four presidents, and those education items that were passed by Congress. The study also found that Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Clinton were found to be Charismatic Leaders, while George W. Bush was not. A conclusion was made with this data that there were no connection between Charismatic Leadership Theory and the passage of presidential education agendas. / by Randye Shanfeld. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Essa dissertação tem dois objetivos. O primeiro é fazer uma genealogia da mais popular concepção de representação na ciência política: a do accountability eleitoral. A teoria do accountability eleitoral é um produto da reflexão teórica e normativa da ciência política de meados do século XX em diante, especialmente de duas literaturas. Uma é a de congruência ou responsividade, que adota a congruência entre as preferências por políticas ou a ideologia do representante e aquelas do representado como ideal normativo. A outra é a do voto retrospectivo, que encontra sua versão mais sofisticada nos modelos de agência política. Para essa literatura, normativamente atraente é a seleção de representantes competentes, que entreguem bons resultados. Ambas especificam a relação entre eleições e representação: por meio das eleições, o representado consegue fazer o representante lhe entregar o que ele quer. A primeira parte do trabalho reconstrói a trajetória dessas duas literaturas, ressaltando seus impasses. O principal desses impasses envolve a bem documentada desinformação do eleitor: como eleitores desinformados podem controlar seus representantes? O segundo objetivo é avaliar a teoria do accountability eleitoral à luz das evidências empíricas pertinentes. Para tanto, o trabalho investiga as evidências sobre o problema da desinformação do eleitor, e de sua competência em geral. O saldo das evidências recomenda ceticismo a respeito do accountability eleitoral. Diante disso, o que podemos então esperar da representação política? O trabalho sugere que um caminho é inverter a perspectiva do accountability eleitoral e enxergar a representação política como uma relação em que o representante é quem mobiliza, de cima para baixo, o representado. O apoio político do representado é um recurso que o representante tenta angariar para perseguir seus próprios objetivos políticos. Esse pode ser um caminho para reconciliar a teoria da representação com o fenômeno da liderança política. / This thesis has two goals. The first one is to put together a genealogy of the most popular conception of representation in political science: that of electoral accountability. The theory of electoral accountability is a product of theoretical and normative reflection of political science from mid-20th century on, and especially of two different literatures. One is the literature on policy congruence or policy responsiveness, which takes congruence between the representatives and the constituents policy preferences or ideology as a normative ideal. The other one is the retrospective voting literature, which finds its most sophisticated version in political agency models. For this literature, what is normatively appealing is the selection of competent representatives, who are able to deliver good results. Both literatures specify the connection between elections and representation: through elections, constituents can get representatives to deliver what they want. The first part of this work retells these literatures trajectories, point out their impasses. The main one regards voters well documented lack of information: how can uninformed voters control their representatives? This works second aim is to assess the theory of electoral accountability in light of the pertinent empirical evidence. In order to do so, the work investigates the evidence on the problem of voters lack of information and voter competence in general. The balance of the evidence suggests skepticism towards electoral accountability. Given this, what can we expect from political representation? The thesis suggests that a possible path is to reverse the point of view of electoral accountability and see political representation as a top-down relationship in which representatives mobilize constituents. Constituents political support is a resource that representatives try to gather in order to pursue their own political objectives. This can be a way to reconcile the theory of representation with the phenomenon of political leadership.

This thesis studies political elites’ beliefs about the ideal party leader. This ideal, like other human ideals, is characterized by ambivalence. The thesis explores the ambivalence expressed in party elites’ leadership ideal and how it can be understood. The study draws primarily on qualitative interviews with members of the party elites in the Social Democratic Party and the Liberal Party in Sweden. Specifically, it analyzes the “life world” of the party leaders, party secretaries, group leaders in the Swedish Parliament, and election committee chairmen. Building on classical and modern research on leadership and political parties, the thesis derives an analytical tool to guide the interviews which covers six aspects of party leadership: Characteristics, Leadership style, Tasks, Freedom of action, Representation, and Status. The empirical analysis shows that the elites’ party leadership ideal is ambivalent and different across the two parties. The ambiguities can be summarized as dichotomies, where the ideal leader should encompass both sides of the dichotomy. The Social Democratic Party elites’ ideal is represented by two dichotomies: the leader versus the team and the party versus the government. To bridge the ambiguities, the elite resort to the idea of “anchoring”. This notion resolves conflicts between the leader and the surrounding team and the party and the government. The ideal of the Liberal Party’s elites includes four dichotomies: dogmatism versus pragmatism; idea versus person; appearance (outward-looking) versus action (inward-looking); and free versus constrained. Unlike the case of the Social Democratic Party, it is less evident how the Liberal Party’s elites accommodate the ambiguities. However, an emphasis on accountability and maintaining a balance between existing conflicts, partially remedies the dilemma. Also, the idea of leadership within the Liberal Party is less problematic compared to the Social Democratic Party. In sum, while the Social Democrats’ ideal resembles the “friendly father figure”, the Liberals’ ideal is portrayed by the “superficial intellectual”. The findings also indicate that the way in which the parties were established, their experience of being in government, size, ideology, and position within the party system affect their beliefs about leadership ideals.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2008. / Bibliography. Also available online.

This study began with the premise that looking at leadership in a different setting might generate new understanding of how leadership works. Only four women mayors had held office in New Zealand before the 1980s but when their numbers grew over the next two decades, there were signs of a difference in their approach to leadership. Although the amount of scholarly work published on leadership is vast, the body of academic literature on local government leadership is slender. The possibility of finding new knowledge about leadership by studying women mayors made them an intriguing area to research. The research sought answers to two questions: how do women mayors perceive exemplary mayoral leadership and explain their own leadership practice; and how do women mayors' views of leadership compare with leadership theory? The information gathered to assist in answering the research questions included: interviews with three mayoral candidates in the 1998 elections, interviews with 18 of the 19 female mayors in office during the 1998-2001 term, and a case study of Jill White, mayor of Palmerston North from 1998-2001. The case study comprised a series of interviews with Jill White during the three year term, a selection of newspaper stories about the mayor and council gathered during 1998-2001 and interviews with four key informants about Jill White's leadership after she lost the election in 2001. The findings of the research were that the research participants saw leadership as a process that took place working with the community to achieve mutually desired leadership goals. Leadership was not generated by a single person's abilities, nor was it automatically linked to a position such as being mayor, although being mayor gave a lot of opportunities to participate in and encourage leadership. Four areas participants considered to be requirements of exemplary mayoral leadership were: being at the centre of webs of people rather than at the top of a hierarchy having less concern for ego than for working towards change being committed to making a difference in the community and/or the council being prepared to sacrifice their own interests for the good of the community Comparing participants' views of leadership with leadership theory showed that their descriptions and examples of leadership were closely related to transforming leadership (Burns, 1979), whereas transactional leadership in the sense of acting in your own self-interest or trading favours with others, met with strong disapproval. The heroic paradigm of leadership that has been prevalent in the literature, with its focus on the leader, was absent from the participants' accounts. Their achievements came from working with others and they saw the ability to involve others in the leadership process as the strength of their leadership. The implication of these findings is that the focus in much of the literature on individual attributes of people in leadership positions, as if they had to 'do' all the leadership themselves, is misplaced. Being concerned to make a difference with and through others is at the core of leadership.

Zugl.: Göttingen, Univ., Diss., 2005

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität Wien, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 391-409).

Cette thèse porte sur la voix charismatique dans le cadre du leadership politique. L'hypothèse générale est que le locuteur-leader utilise sa voix selon deux fonctions. Une fonction primaire, biologique, qui est d'utiliser les modulations de fréquence fondamentale pour être reconnu comme le leader du groupe. Une fonction secondaire, apprise et dépendante de la langue parlée et de la culture d'appartenance, qui est de modifier la qualité de la voix pour véhiculer différents traits et types de charisme dans le but de persuader l'auditoire et atteindre certains buts. La première étape a été de décrire le phénomène du charisme avec une théorie socio-cognitive qui distingue le charisme de l'esprit (la pensée, les actions et le visionnarisme du leader exprimés à travers le langage écrit et verbal) du charisme du corps (tout comportement non verbal utilisé pour exprimer son message ainsi que ses affects et émotions). De plus, des recherches empiriques ont permit de récolter des adjectifs décrivant les traits positifs et négatifs du charisme propres au français, à l'italien et au portugais brésilien. Enfin, un outil appelé MASCharP a été développé pour évaluer les traits du charisme d'un individu à partir de tout comportement perceptible. La deuxième étape d'étude concerne la description acoustique et perceptive de la voix charismatique. Une première phase a consisté à créer des profils vocaux des leaders masculins français, italiens et portugais brésiliens, dans le but de représenter l'extension vocale du leader lors de différents contextes de communication (formels vs. informels). Les profils vocaux montrent l'adoption, par les leaders, d'une stratégie vocale liée au contexte de communication et à leur stratégie persuasive. Ces résultats montrent des similarités inter-langagières et culturelles du comportement vocal entre leaders. La deuxième phase expérimentale sur la voix charismatique démontre l'influence de la qualité de voix des phrases sur la perception de différents types et attributs du leadership charismatique. Le locuteur-leader utilise sa production vocale pour être reconnu comme le leader du groupe. Ceci est valable dans tous les contextes de communication formels où le leader doit exprimer son leadership et a un but persuasif à atteindre. S'il veut soumettre les membres du groupe et souhaite apparaître comme un leader dominant ou menaçant, il utilise une fréquence fondamentale basse associée à des types phonatoires comme le creaky. S'il veut être perçu comme un leader sincère, calme et rassurant, il utilise une fréquence fondamentale plus haute associée à sa voix modale, évitant des types de phonation comme le harsh. Cela est la fonction primaire de la voix charismatique. Enfin, ces travaux de recherche montrent que les traits du leader charismatique, dans le discours politique, sont filtrés par le contexte langagier et culturel d'interaction partagé entre leader et partisans. L'utilisation de la voix pour véhiculer différents types de charisme, caractérises par des attributs différents, est filtrée par la langue et la culture qui favorisent l'émergence de comportements vocaux charismatiques, prototypiques et qui correspondent à l'attente inhérente de l'auditoire. Cela est la fonction secondaire de la voix charismatique. / This dissertation analyzes the charismatic voice in the context of political leadership. It is shown that the speaker-leader uses his/her voice based on two functions. The primary function is biological and consists of manipulating changes in fundamental frequency in order to be recognized as the leader of the group. The secondary function is learned and dependent upon the language spoken and the culture that one belongs to, and consists of changing voice quality in order to convey different traits and types of charisma. These functions are employed in order to persuade an audience and achieve certain goals. The phenomenon of charisma is first addressed through social-cognitive theory that distinguishes charisma of the mind (the leader's thought, actions, and vision expressed through written and spoken language) from charisma of the body (all non-verbal behaviors used for expressing one's message, affects, and emotions. Certain adjectives were established through empirical research to describe positive and negative traits in French, Italian, and Brazilian Portuguese speech. The tool MASCharP (Multi-dimensional Adjective-based Scale of Charisma Perception) was then developed in order to evaluate the charismatic traits of an individual's perceptible behavior. The study then establishes an acoustic and perceptual description of the charismatic voice. Speech range profiles are created for French, Italian, and Brazilian male leaders in order to represent the leaders' vocal extension in different communication contexts (formal vs. informal). The voice profiles demonstrate how the leaders adopt a particular vocal strategy related to the communication context as well as the leaders' persuasive strategy. These results show cross-language and cross-cultural similarities in leaders' vocal behavior. The following experimental phase demonstrates the influence of voice quality on the perception of different types and attributes of charismatic leadership. The speaker-leader uses his vocal production to be recognized as the leader of a group. This is true for all formal communication contexts wherein the leader must express his leadership and has a persuasive goal to achieve. If he wants to submit group members and hopes to appear as a dominant or threatening leader, the leader uses a low fundamental frequency associated with phonatory types such as creaky voice. If he wants to be perceived as a sincere, calm, and reassuring, he uses a higher fundamental frequency associated with his modal voice, avoiding phonatory types such as harsh voice. This is the primary function of the charismatic voice. Lastly, this study shows that, in political discourse, the traits of a charismatic leader are filtered by the language and cultural context of the interaction. The secondary function of the charismatic voice is therefore addressed: the use of one's voice for conveying different types of charisma, as characterized by varying attributes, is filtered through the language and culture that favor certain charismatic vocal behaviors which serve as prototypes that correspond to the audience's inherent expectations.

Essa dissertação tem dois objetivos. O primeiro é fazer uma genealogia da mais popular concepção de representação na ciência política: a do accountability eleitoral. A teoria do accountability eleitoral é um produto da reflexão teórica e normativa da ciência política de meados do século XX em diante, especialmente de duas literaturas. Uma é a de congruência ou responsividade, que adota a congruência entre as preferências por políticas ou a ideologia do representante e aquelas do representado como ideal normativo. A outra é a do voto retrospectivo, que encontra sua versão mais sofisticada nos modelos de agência política. Para essa literatura, normativamente atraente é a seleção de representantes competentes, que entreguem bons resultados. Ambas especificam a relação entre eleições e representação: por meio das eleições, o representado consegue fazer o representante lhe entregar o que ele quer. A primeira parte do trabalho reconstrói a trajetória dessas duas literaturas, ressaltando seus impasses. O principal desses impasses envolve a bem documentada desinformação do eleitor: como eleitores desinformados podem controlar seus representantes? O segundo objetivo é avaliar a teoria do accountability eleitoral à luz das evidências empíricas pertinentes. Para tanto, o trabalho investiga as evidências sobre o problema da desinformação do eleitor, e de sua competência em geral. O saldo das evidências recomenda ceticismo a respeito do accountability eleitoral. Diante disso, o que podemos então esperar da representação política? O trabalho sugere que um caminho é inverter a perspectiva do accountability eleitoral e enxergar a representação política como uma relação em que o representante é quem mobiliza, de cima para baixo, o representado. O apoio político do representado é um recurso que o representante tenta angariar para perseguir seus próprios objetivos políticos. Esse pode ser um caminho para reconciliar a teoria da representação com o fenômeno da liderança política. / This thesis has two goals. The first one is to put together a genealogy of the most popular conception of representation in political science: that of electoral accountability. The theory of electoral accountability is a product of theoretical and normative reflection of political science from mid-20th century on, and especially of two different literatures. One is the literature on policy congruence or policy responsiveness, which takes congruence between the representatives and the constituents policy preferences or ideology as a normative ideal. The other one is the retrospective voting literature, which finds its most sophisticated version in political agency models. For this literature, what is normatively appealing is the selection of competent representatives, who are able to deliver good results. Both literatures specify the connection between elections and representation: through elections, constituents can get representatives to deliver what they want. The first part of this work retells these literatures trajectories, point out their impasses. The main one regards voters well documented lack of information: how can uninformed voters control their representatives? This works second aim is to assess the theory of electoral accountability in light of the pertinent empirical evidence. In order to do so, the work investigates the evidence on the problem of voters lack of information and voter competence in general. The balance of the evidence suggests skepticism towards electoral accountability. Given this, what can we expect from political representation? The thesis suggests that a possible path is to reverse the point of view of electoral accountability and see political representation as a top-down relationship in which representatives mobilize constituents. Constituents political support is a resource that representatives try to gather in order to pursue their own political objectives. This can be a way to reconcile the theory of representation with the phenomenon of political leadership.