Module: Politics Lecture: Political Executives & Leadership Course: Power, Politics & Policy Process Area: Public Policy

1. Dr Faheem Jehangir Khan
Research Economist, PIDE
faheemjkhan@pide.org.pk
PIDE, Islamabad | 2016
Political Executives &
Leadership
Chapter 13: Political Executives & Leadership (pp. 284—308)
Heywood, A. (2013). Politics. Fourth edition. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
*e-book available at PIDE Library

2. Dr FJK
PIDE 2016
Political Executives & Leadership
• The branch of government that is responsible for
the execution or implementation of policy!
• The Executive is the irreducible core of government
▫ Political system can operate without constituencies,
assemblies, judiciary and even parties, but…
▫ Political systems can not survive without executive
branch to formulate government policies
• Political executives are face of politics
• Executive is a source of political leadership

3. Dr FJK
PIDE 2016
Role of Executive
• Responsible for execution or implementation policy
• Members of executives are categorized:
▫ Political Executives
▫ Bureaucratic Executives
• In case of Parliamentary Executive, this distinction
is very clear.
• In Presidential Executive, there is a greater overlap.

4. Dr FJK
PIDE 2016
Functions of Political Executives
• The executive functions as the ‘commanding
heights’ of the state apparatus.
• Political executive have to carry out several
functions:
1. Ceremonial duties
▫ Represent the larger society and symbolize its unity.
▫ Non-executive presidents and constitutional
monarchs are sometimes charged with ceremonial
responsibilities.

5. Dr FJK
PIDE 2016
Functions of Political Executives (2)
2. Control of policy-making
• Govern the policy process-key function.
• To develop coherent economic and social programs.
3. Popular leadership
• The ability of the executive to mobilize support that
ensures the compliance and cooperation of the general
public
• Policy implementation becomes difficult, perhaps
impossible, if executive is unable to gain support.

6. Dr FJK
PIDE 2016
Functions of Political Executives (3)
4. Bureaucratic leadership
• Chief executives, ministers and secretaries constitute a
‘top management’ charged with running the machinery
of government.
• Executive oversees administration.
5. Crisis leadership
• When crises break out, in either domestic or inter
national politics, it is the executive that responds.
• ‘Emergency powers’ when confronted by domestic
crises such as natural disasters, terrorist threats,
industrial unrest and civil disorder or wars.

7. Dr FJK
PIDE 2016
Power in Executives: Who leads?
Different Dimensions of Power
• Formal Dimension of Power:
▫ The constitutional roles and responsibilities of executive
officers and institutional frameworks in which they operate.
• Informal Dimension of Power:
▫ The role of personality, political skills and experience and the
impact of factors, such as parties and media.
• External Dimension of Power:
▫ The political, economic and diplomatic context of govt. and the
broader pressures that bear on the executive branch.

8. Dr FJK
PIDE 2016
The Prime Minister
• Political Executives in the modern world can be
classified as parliamentary executives
• Three essential features of parliamentary executives
▫ Executive power is derived from the assembly and party
politics
▫ Political executive drawn from assembly
▫ Executive is directly responsible to the assembly
• Prime ministers become a kind of “Brand Image”
• Image a statesmanship portray as a national leaders

9. Dr FJK
PIDE 2016
The Cabinet
• Cabinet constitutes the principal link b/w legislative and
executive
• Cabinet is accountable to the parliament
• Cabinet is senior executive organ of the government
Advantages
• It encourage full and frank policy debate
• It guarantees the unity and cohesion of government
Disadvantages
• Decision are based on compromises
• Act as a cloak for prime ministerial power

10. Dr FJK
PIDE 2016
Politics of Leadership
• Leaders ‘knew best’ and the public needed to be led,
mobilized or guided…. An outdated phenomenon.
• Democratic politics may not have removed the need for
leaders, but it has certainly placed powerful constraints
on leadership.
• Still, the psychological make-up and motivations of
political leaders is important.
• Reasons may be:
▫ Leaders need to ‘project themselves’- to gain electoral
support
▫ An emphasis on PERSONALITIES rather than policies.
▫ People may focus on personal vision of individual leaders.

11. Dr FJK
PIDE 2016
Theories of Leadership
• Based in the disagreement upon the nature of
political leadership, four contrasting theories of
leadership exists.
1. A natural gift
• The traditional view of leadership
• Leadership is strictly an individual quality
• Traditionally thought of as ‘men of destiny’.
• Now a days, this theory of leadership is embodied
in the idea of charisma.

12. Dr FJK
PIDE 2016
Theories of Leadership (2)
2. A sociological phenomenon
• Leadership as a sociological, rather than psychological,
phenomenon.
• leaders are ‘created’ by particular socio-historical
forces.
• Political leadership is largely a product of collective
behavior.
3. An organizational necessity
• Leadership as a rational, or bureaucratic, device.
• It is something impersonal and based on
formal(written) rules.

13. Dr FJK
PIDE 2016
Theories of Leadership (3)
4. A political skill
• Political leadership, in this sense, is similar to the art
of manipulation.
• Based on features like, self-awareness, self-
management, empathy and relationship
management.
• Barak Hussain Obama is widely believed to have
these skills.

14. Dr FJK
PIDE 2016
Styles of Leadership
• Styles refers to the strategies and behavioral patterns
through which a leader seeks to achieve his or her
goals.
Laissez-faire leadership
▫ Do not interfere in matters outside his or her personal
responsibility.
Transactional leadership
▫ Act as a brokers, balance rival factions and interests
against each other
Transformational leadership
▫ Mobilization of support through the leader’s capacity to
inspire for the realization of their vision.

15. Dr Faheem Jehangir Khan
Research Economist, PIDE
faheemjkhan@pide.org.pk
PIDE, Islamabad | 2016
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