Types and Types of Political Leadership

Concept of political leadership

Definition 1
A leader is understood as a person who takes on a dominant role, the role of the leader of a social group, for example, a political party, a public organization, and so on.

The implementation of leadership is possible at various social levels, regardless of social and political factors. As a rule, leaders develop at the level of a fairly small social group in the context of the functioning of interstate relations and various interstate structural formations; some talk about the presence of a leader phenomenon, since this quality is not characteristic of everyone.

Leaders can be formal or informal. Formal leaders are officially recognized and legally established, for example, the president, who was elected as a result of elections. Informal recognition means that a person actually leads a group or organization, heads a social movement, enjoys the trust of the people, but does not occupy any leadership position or official status.

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The role of political leaders is very high, which has been confirmed more than once by history. In particular, we know of many examples when bloody wars were unleashed in the interests of certain political leaders; we know of attempts to implement certain ideas, which were often not entirely adequate and claimed the lives of many peoples.

The history of leadership studies goes back to ancient times. In particular, this phenomenon has been studied since ancient times, during the Middle Ages, by various scientists who paid great attention to leadership. Leaders in the political and military spheres and heroes were seen as the true creators of history, often composing some kind of narrative about their exploits or achievements.

In particular, a significant contribution to the study of this issue was made by Niccolò Machiavelli, who in his work Sovereign examined in detail the issues of leadership. In particular, he analyzed the set of personal qualities that a sovereign should have. To him, for example, he attributed personal valor, inspiration of others, determination, the ability to make decisions, optimism, as well as other qualities that, according to Niccolo Machiavelli, could affect the order of government, the general conditions for the development of the state and society.

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Friedrich Nietzsche drew attention to the need for the existence of a higher biological type, that is, he designated a leader as a superman. He believed that it had to be created artificially. However, such a person, in his opinion, was not limited by any moral framework or any norms; he rose above people as above monkeys. Subsequently, the fascists used this theory to justify their actions.

Marxist theory also mentions the leader, considering them as a historical necessary element, expressing the interests of various classes. For example, Lenin believed that the whole society was divided into classes, which were led by political parties, and political parties, in turn, were controlled by leaders.

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Max Weber's classification

The political sphere of social life, being a large-scale element of the social and state structure, is distinguished by the complexity and diversity of elements and internal connections.
Political leadership, as the most important component of politics in general, is no exception. In this regard, in the political science literature of different times one can find many classifications of political leadership, depending on a wide variety of reasons. Note 1

The significance of classifications of political leadership is that distinguishing between different types of appropriate leadership contributes to a better understanding of what features of the human personality and politically significant behavior contribute to the emergence of a particular person as a unique subject of the political process in specific socio-historical conditions.

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One of the most famous classifications of political leadership is the system proposed by the German philosopher and sociologist Max Weber. By leadership in general, Weber understood a person's ability to give orders and command obedience from others. In this regard, Weber based his classification on the category of “authority”, due to whose affiliation the voluntary subordination of broad social groups to a specific person occurs. In total, Weber, within the framework of the classification under consideration, distinguished three types of political leadership:

Traditional leadership - this type received its name based on the fact that its greatest distribution was characteristic of societies with a traditional way of life, within which the prevailing idea was the sanctity of the traditions of transferring power by inheritance, as well as the divine origin and nature of the supreme state power. For example, the power of elders, leaders, etc. was built on the basis of traditional leadership.
Rational-legal leadership is widespread in the conditions of the formation and development of democratic principles of government, since the type of leadership under consideration is based on the recognition by the people of the legitimacy of the formal rules for electing political leaders and the subsequent transfer of managerial functions to them. The establishment of rational-legal political leadership occurs through the provision of universal, equal, free elections;
Charismatic leadership is a type of political leadership based on the leader’s outstanding personal and oratorical qualities and abilities, in connection with which he receives support from a wide range of the population.

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Types of Leadership

The leader, due to certain reasons or circumstances, is endowed with a number of characteristics that reflect his position in society, as well as the ability to formulate the interests of various categories of the population. Obviously, the effectiveness of certain categories of the population and their ability to realize their needs also depend on the effectiveness of the leader.

Note 1

It has long been believed that leaders must have competence, flexibility, determination and other essential qualities. In addition, leaders must be able to exert psychological pressure on others, demonstrating their determination, and in some cases, aggressiveness.

In addition, leaders had to be able to bluff. The types of leadership depended on what functions were assigned to it. For example, the following types of leaders can be distinguished:

Charismatic Leader. This leader was assumed to have charismatic qualities. For example, Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, and so on acted as charismatic leaders. Due to their charisma, these leaders were superior to others and successfully led them into childbirth.
Modeled Leader. The image of a given leader is created by his teams or assistants.
Democratic Leader. This leader acts on the basis of existing norms in society, democratic legal relations, and so on. Most often, the leader occupied this position legitimately, for example, due to elections being held.

Other classifications of political leadership

In addition to the previously discussed classifications of political leadership, one should consider the division of the corresponding types, depending on the tactics chosen by the political leader to achieve their goals:

Conservatives, who are characterized by the belief in the need to maintain the current state of public life, trying to avoid large-scale changes and transformations;
Reformers are leaders who are aware of the need for a radical transformation of individual social phenomena, the main instrument of which they recognize is the implementation of large-scale reforms;
Revolutionaries are leaders striving for a rapid, radical reorganization of social life through a revolutionary coup.

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Types of Political Leaders

Leaders in politics are divided into different types. Many political scientists have proposed their own classification systems, described below.

M. Hermann's theory

M. Hermann divides leaders by image, highlighting the following categories: “ministers”, “standard bearers”, “firemen”, “traders”. The image of a “servant” is formed by a politician who seeks to express the interests of his own followers and admirers. The “standard bearers” want to make “great dreams” come true, radically changing the established political system. “Merchants” are excellent at persuading people and “selling” their own ideas to them. At the same time, “firefighters” quickly respond to problems and events that require immediate solutions. For a leader to exhibit such qualities, some extreme cases must occur. In real life, leaders in the political sphere apply the four leadership images to themselves in different orders and combinations.

M. Weber's theory

M. Weber revealed the features of traditional leadership. He wrote that the concept is based on customs, traditions, and the habit of subordination of followers. Also, the basis of traditional leadership includes charisma - it is based on faith in the non-standard, outstanding qualities of a leader. A sign of the presented feature is bureaucratic, rational and legal leadership, exercised within the framework of legislation and current laws.

Lasswell's theory

Political scientist Lasswell from the USA studied the problem of leadership taking into account Adler's theory of compensation. In this case, the desire for power acts exclusively as a compensatory form of inferiority and specific psychological trauma. So-called unconscious conflicts can be resolved by moving “forbidden” feelings to distant and close objects of society. The type and characteristics of leadership in politics will depend on the methods for resolving various conflicts. This analytical method and its various variations have been used to study in detail the personalities of Nixon, Lenin, Hitler, Stalin and many other political figures who had a strong influence on the course of history.

S. Gibb's theory

S. Gibb identifies 3 types of leaders depending on the attitude of followers towards them:

“patriarch” - people feel fear and love for him at the same time;
“ideal” - receives the sympathy of many social groups of society;
“tyrant” - members of the masses develop a deep sense of fear towards the leader.

What is political leadership?

This concept is very different from ordinary leadership . A politician cannot interact directly with society. Parties and the media necessarily act as intermediaries. Therefore, its impact on people is somewhat limited. He also needs to build a competent professional image that people will trust . To achieve this result, a whole team of experts works together with the ruler. This fact gives reason to believe that political leadership is a collective effort. And, of course, we cannot forget about the impact on completely different segments of the population and social groups. In order for the head to be supported by as many people as possible, he must be liked. This can only be achieved by considering the problems and opinions of different communities and performing many social roles at the same time.

It turns out that political leadership is rather a way of interaction between the ruler and the people, taking into account everything necessary to exert his influence. Place, time and specific environment play a big role in the development of a leader. But this person always plays one of the main roles in the development of society.

Political leadership: theoretical aspects

The theory of “personality traits” includes the ability to influence others, moral maturity, a solid mass of character, enterprise, social courage, resistance to harmful impulses, insight, great willpower, and the absence of unnecessary worries. This concept also includes adaptability, influence on the masses, intelligence, understanding of others, receptivity, extroversion.

It is important to consider the situational theory - in fairly extreme conditions of society, national policy leaders must have the following important qualities:

the ability to personify the fundamental values of a nation for any specific historical era;
the possibility of formulating new creative goals, heuristic ideologies/programs in conditions of the final loss of old guidelines, when a split has occurred in society, anarchy and apathy reign in it;
searching for connections between current basic interests with the history of the state, as well as the traditions of old and new generations;
the desire to go beyond the procedures of bureaucracy in the event of making decisions in situations that can be considered extreme;
the ability to give the nation optimism, faith in the future, to help the people overcome uncertainty, eliminate the inferiority complex and guilt;
the art of creating a fundamentally innovative model of thinking and behavior, replicable and disseminated throughout society;
knowledge of the theory of leadership psychology - there are 3 main directions (applied, motivational, psychoanalytic);
mastery of the theory of constituents - followers of leaders have a decisive role.

Leadership is a concept that is multidimensional. Leadership styles are understood as a set of methods and techniques for the functioning of a political leader, characteristics of mutual action with followers and group members. The classification contains three types of leadership: non-interfering, democratic, authoritarian.