The Myth of the Strong Leader: Political Leadership in the Modern Age

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Vintage Books, Apr 16, 2015 - Political Science - 466 pages

CHOSEN BY BILL GATES AS A BOOK OF THE YEAR 2016

Archie Brown challenges the widespread belief that 'strong leaders', dominate individual wielders of power, are the most successful and admirable.

Within authoritarian regimes, a collective leadership is a lesser evil compared with a personal dictatorship. Within democracies, although 'strong leaders' are seldom as strong or independent as they purport to be, the idea that just one person is entitled to take the big decisions is harmful and should be resisted.

Examining Franklin D. Roosevelt and Mikhail Gorbachev, Deng Xiaoping and Nelson Mandela, Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair amongst many others, this landmark study pinpoints different types and qualities of leadership. Overturning the popular notion of the strong leader, it makes us rethink preconceptions about what it means to lead.

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About the author (2015)

Archie Brown is Emeritus Professor of Politics at Oxford University. For almost five decades he has written on Soviet and Communist politics, the Cold War, and political leadership. His previous books include The Gorbachev Factor (1996), Seven Years that Changed the World: Perestroika in Perspective (2007) and The Rise and Fall of Communism (Bodley Head, 2009).

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