Abstract
This chapter sets out the theoretical framework for the study of the prime minister’s political leadership in European monetary policy. Firstly, different approaches to the study of political leadership are introduced. Moreover, concepts of the British political system are identified. They include the classical Westminster approach and Patrick Dunleavy’s and Roderick Rhodes’ core executive concept. Additionally, concepts to assess the prime minister’s political leadership in government decision-making are considered. These include Martin J. Smith’s model of prime ministerial power and Richard Heffernan’s thesis of prime ministerial predominance. On the basis of these, a modified model of prime ministerial power is developed. It is used to identify whether the four prime minister’s leadership analysed in this study was predominant or collective in European monetary policy.
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Notes
- 1.
According to Helms (2000: 416) the de facto direct elections of the head of state and a monocratic structure of the executive grant the president larger room for manoeuvre than heads of government/state in other political systems.
- 2.
According to this approach institutions are not only formal constitutional rules but also social norms, which are accepted by actors in a political system (Scharpf 2000: 77).
- 3.
Despite changes to its political system in the past years, Lijphart (2012: 20) argues that the UK can still be seen as a very fitting example of a majoritarian democratic system.
- 4.
The concept is contested, e.g. Heffernan (2005b) compares the offices of UK prime minister and US president and concludes that the latter has to govern with more institutional constraints than the former.
- 5.
- 6.
This analysis will focus on the parliamentary party in the House of Commons. The House of Lords is part of the legislative process, but its powers are limited. It can delay a bill’s passage for a year. Yet with few exceptions, the Commons can then reintroduce and pass it in the next session without the Lords’ consent (Kelly and Maer 2016).
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Bujard, B. (2019). Theoretical Framework: Prime Ministerial Political Leadership in the British Political System. In: The British Prime Minister in the Core Executive. Contributions to Political Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89953-4_2
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