The Leadership Capital Index

The Leadership Capital Index develops a conceptual framework of leadership capital and a diagnostic tool - the Leadership Capital Index (LCI) - to measure and evaluate the fluctuating nature of the leadership capital of leaders. Differing amounts of leadership capital, a combination of skills, relations and reputation, allow leaders to succeed or bring about their failure. This book brings together leading international scholars in the field to engage with the concept of 'leadership capital' and use and apply the LCI to a variety of comparative case studies. The book provides an important, timely, and innovative contribution to the now flourishing academic discipline of political leadership studies.

The LCI offers a comprehensive yet parsimonious and easily applicable 10 point matrix to examine leadership authority over time and in different political contexts. In each case, leaders 'spend' and put their 'stock' of authority and support at risk. United States president Lyndon Johnson arm-twisting Congress to put into effect civil rights legislation; Tony Blair taking the United Kingdom into the invasion of Iraq; Angela Merkel committing Germany to a generous reception of refugees: all 'spent capital' to forge public policy they believed in. The volume examines how office-holders acquire, consolidate, risk, and lose such capital, and concentrates predominantly on elected 'chief executives' at the national level, including majoritarian and consensus systems, multiple and singular cases, and also examines some presidential and sub-national cases. The Leadership Capital Index is an exploratory volume, with chapters providing a series of plausibility probes to see how the LCI framework 'performs' as a descriptive and analytical tool.

Mark Bennister, Reader in Politics, Canterbury Christ Church University,Ben Worthy, Lecturer in Politics, Birkbeck College, University of London,Paul 't Hart, Professor of Public Administration, Utrecht University and the Netherlands School of Public Administration

Dr Mark Bennister is a Reader in Politics at Canterbury Christ Church University. He has published articles and chapters in various journals and edited books on political leadership, prime ministerial power, political oratory and British and Australian politics. He was Principal Investigator (2015-16) on a Nuffield Foundation funded project investigating 'Prime Ministerial Accountability to Parliament'. He is co-convenor of the PSA Political Leadership Specialist Group and co-convenor of the ECPR Standing Group on Elites and Political Leadership.

Ben Worthy is a Lecturer in Politics at Birkbeck College, University of London. His specialisms include political leadership and government transparency. He has written on contemporary political leadership, has co-developed the Leadership Capital Index and is co-creator of the Measuring Leadership blog. He is also co-convenor of the PSA political leadership group.


Paul 't Hart is Professor of Public Administration at Utrecht University and the Netherlands School of Public Administration. He is also a core faculty member of the Australia New Zealand School of Government. He has published widely on public leadership, crisis management, public policy and political psychology. He is currently leading a ERC-funded study into successful public governance.

1. Understanding Political Leadership: The Leadership Capital Approach, Mark Bennister, Paul 't Hart, and Ben Worthy
2. Turning Structural Weakness into Personal Strength: Angela Merkel and the Politics of Leadership Capital in Germany, Ludger Helms and Femke van Esch
3. 'No Loans for Ladies': Julia Gillard and Capital Denied, James Walter
4. From Triumph to Tragedy: The Leadership Paradox of Lyndon Baines Johnson, Jon Johansson
5. A 'Meteoric' Career in Hungarian Politics, Andras Korosenyi, Peter Ondre, and Andras Hajdu
6. Jerry Brown and the Triumph of Leadership: Leadership Capital and the Financial Rescue of California, Charles Parker
7. Limits to Dominance? Comparing the Leadership Capital of Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair, Mark Bennister and Ben Worthy
8. (Mis)Managing Leadership Capital: Canadian Prime Ministers, Jonathan Malloy
9. Modern Prime Ministerial Leadership in the Netherlands: Consensus or Confrontation?, Femke van Esch, Marij Swinkels and Sabine van Zuydam
10. Swedish Coalition Governments and the Quest for Re-election, Par Daleus and Fredik Bynander
11. Leadership Capital in a Protracted Crisis: Spanish Prime Ministers Compared, Jose Olmeda and Cesar Colino
12. The Leadership Capital of Italian Presidents: The Politics of Constraint and Moral Suasion, Selena Grimaldi
13. Measuring and Using Leadership Capital: Issues and Extension, Jean Blondel
14. Leadership Capital: A Bourdieuian Reinterpretation, Erik Jentges
15. Conclusions: LCI Revisited, Mark Bennister, Paul 't Hart and Ben Worthy