Conclusion

Abstract

All the chapters in this volume set out to address specific aspects of political leadership, with a common interest in the management of uncertainty. In our Introduction, we contended that this notion of uncertainty in politics could be understood in two ways: when the political, economic and geopolitical context is impossible to decipher (contextual uncertainty) and when division and confusion among followers and the public at large blur the messages sent to leaders (social uncertainty). Drawing upon neo-institutionalism, the common thread in all these contributions seems to be found in the use or misuse of their surrounding structures by leaders in building what they expect to be appropriate strategies of leadership. In order to shape relations with their followers and provide them with a reassuring framework, all leaders rely on specific structures which in turn exercise constraints upon them, as illustrated with political institutions (see chapters by Meyer, Vergniolle de Chantal on the US; Schnapper, Tournier-Sol and Leydier on the UK), the media (Heinemann on France; Frame and Brachotte; Bonnet on Italy), political parties (Avril and Alexandre-Collier on the UK) and civil society movements and associations (Godet on the US, Richter and Picard on Germany). Whereas the contextual and social environments are difficult to control, these structures display regularities and norms which are supposedly easier to identify.