Cookies?
Library Header Image
LSE Research Online LSE Library Services

Leading the party: coordination, direction, and communication

Dewan, Torun and Myatt, David P. (2006) Leading the party: coordination, direction, and communication. PSPE working papers (07-2006). Department of Government, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK.

[img]
Preview
PDF
Download (410kB) | Preview

Abstract

Party activists face a coordination problem: a critical mass (a barrier to coordination) must advocate a single policy alternative if the party is to succeed. The need for direction is the degree to which the merits of the alternatives respond to the underlying mood of the party. An individual’s ability to assess the mood is his sense of direction. These factors combine to form an index of both the desirability and the feasibility of leadership: we call this index Michels’ Ratio. A sovereign party conference gives way to leadership by an individual or oligarchy if and only if Michels’ Ratio is sufficiently high. Leadership enhances the clarity of intra-party communication, but weakens the response of policy choices to the party’s mood.

Item Type: Monograph (Working Paper)
Official URL: http://www2.lse.ac.uk/government/PSPE/WorkingPaper...
Additional Information: © 2006 The Authors
Divisions: Government
Public Policy Group
Subjects: J Political Science > JA Political science (General)
Date Deposited: 14 Oct 2009 14:24
Last Modified: 13 Sep 2024 20:00
URI: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/25507

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics