What comes next for a former leader in a democracy - a Prime Minister or a President obliged to leave office because they have lost an election, come to the end of their constitutionally-fixed term, fallen ill, lost the backing of their party, or (more rarely) chosen to call it a day and voluntarily step down?
Covering the USA, Britain, Canada, Australia, Ireland, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Israel, this book analyses the role, experience and political influence of former leaders in Western democratic states. The book's comparative approach highlights factors of variation and coincidence between the single-country cases, which look at countries of different sizes and weights in the world; with a variety of constitutional, governmental and party systems and differing national cultures and contexts.
Among the issues discussed in the collection are: whether there are broad historical phases and trends across the case studies; whether expectations of post-office rewards and activities affect leaders' behaviour in office and willingness to leave; how far political system variables as opposed to individual variables shape or determine the nature of post-office careers; how far differences in post-office roles are related to party differences, manner of exit from office, length of tenure, relations with successors, perceived success or failure in office, age and health factors; and how far former leaders learn from and copy the example of other former leaders.
Review: 'The gods of politics are wrathful deities. How they like to grind the once mighty. Kevin Theakston and his colleagues have written a fine book on the fallen blending nicely a sense of both humanity and tragedy. Leading a country is not a pursuit that brings recollections in tranquillity. All would-be Prime Ministers and Presidents should read this book before they run for office.' - Lord Peter Hennessy, Attlee Professor of Contemporary British History at Queen Mary, University of London, UK 'What do Presidents and Prime Ministers do after they leave office?
Do they enjoy continued influence, or just fade away? Theakston and de Vries' collection brings together a formidable range of experts in the field of leadership studies to examine this issue. Such a synthesis of analyses is as welcome as it is necessary, for political leadership studies are scattered and under-researched.
The book is rich in anecdotes, and tells us too of the personalities involved, the dedication as well as the egos, and their role. The book is comprehensive in its comparative scope and coverage of constitutional and conventional frameworks, and the political cultures that prevail in the wide range of countries studied; so much so, that this penetrating focus on what politicians do 'after power' tells us a great deal about the nature of politics and power themselves in the range of countries studied ...
The study is a much-needed contribution to the theorisation of comparative political leadership.' - John Gaffney, Professor of Politics, Aston University, Birmingham, UK
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