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Chapter 2 - Personality, Politics and Strong Democracy
- from Part I - Of the People
- Edited by Ashley Weinberg, University of Salford
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- Book:
- Psychology of Democracy
- Published online:
- 24 February 2022
- Print publication:
- 03 March 2022, pp 25-51
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- Chapter
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Summary
This chapter examines how the personality of political leaders shapes their ability to campaign effectively, win votes and achieve success once in political office. We begin by examining how personality has been conceptualised in politics and why it is considered important. In our discussion of personality, we include psychological traits, such as the ‘big five’ (e.g., Extroversion, Conscientiousness), and Machiavellianism or charisma, but also individual characteristics including motivation, intelligence and traits ascribed to individuals based on their biological features, such as height. Next, we review existing research to examine the relevance of personality for leadership emergence (i.e. how personality contributes to individuals becoming political leaders), and leadership effectiveness (i.e. how personality may contribute to successful performance in political office). Finally, we examine the methods that researchers have used to examine personality and political leadership and consider future directions for research. The use of relevant measures of personality is considered as well as enhanced approaches to their analysis.
2 - Recruiting politicians
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- By Jo Silvester
- Edited by Ashley Weinberg, University of Salford
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- Book:
- The Psychology of Politicians
- Published online:
- 05 December 2011
- Print publication:
- 15 December 2011, pp 21-38
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Summary
According to George Bernard Shaw, ‘democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few’ (1903), yet selection and election decisions both play an important part in determining who will ultimately become a politician. Most politicians represent a political party, and successful democratic elections in the UK and a majority of other Western countries depend on the ability of political parties to attract and select the best possible candidates. In fact, recruiting individuals to legislative office is seen as a core function of political systems, with the quality of candidates selected impacting ultimately on the quality of government delivered (Gallagher and Marsh, 1988; Katz, 2001). As gatekeepers to political roles political parties therefore bear an important responsibility to their members, and the public they hope to represent, to identify the best possible candidates through fair and effective selection procedures (Lovenduski, 2005).
Despite clear parallels between political recruitment and employee selection, there has been surprisingly little exploration of how selection research might inform our understanding of how and why certain individuals become politicians (Silvester and Dykes, 2007). Indeed, industrial and organisational (I/O) psychologists have paid remarkably little attention to politics and political work in general (Bar-Tal, 2002; Silvester, 2008). This chapter sets out to redress this situation by exploring how knowledge and practice relevant to employee selection research might be usefully applied to the political context. More specifically, it considers whether such knowledge and practice might be used to improve how political parties select candidates and identify those individuals likely to perform well in government. Beginning with a review of existing research on political recruitment (conducted mostly by political scientists), the chapter considers potential advantages and disadvantages of applying traditional employee selection methods to political recruitment. Finally, two examples of competency-based selection procedures for approving prospective UK parliamentary candidates are described; one with the Conservative Party and one with the Liberal Democrat Party. Although the chapter takes a predominantly UK perspective, focusing on the role of Member of Parliament (MP), similarities with political recruitment and implications for practice in other countries are discussed.