The art of handing over : (mis)managing party leadership successions

• Successful attempts by leaders of democratic political parties to hand over their position at a time and to a heir of their own choosing are quite rare. In this paper we examine how and why this might be the case. After placing the issue of managed transition in the broader literature on party leadership succession, we develop a conceptual framework for understanding succession processes and the strategic choices therein faced by both incumbent leaders and prospective successors. This is then applied to two Dutch case studies and, more briefly, a series of reference cases. This analysis suggests key factors shaping the success and failure of political succession management in parties: the anointed successor’s `rooting’ in the party and/or his perceived vote-getting potential; the maintenance of cooperation and trust between incumbent and heir apparent in an environment containing many forces driving them apart; and propitious timing of the public announcement of the succession arrangement.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Statsvetenskap -- Statsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Political Science -- Political Science (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Statsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Political Science (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Ledarskapsstudier

Partipolitik

Jämförande Politik

Political science

Statsvetenskap

Statsvetenskap med inriktning mot krishantering och internationell samverkan

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)