A Brave New World? Elites and Challenges to Leadership

The panels bring together contemporary debates, traditions and trajectories that researchers who study political and social elites and leadership share. These range from those that focus on theory and method to single and large n case studies. The scope is far-reaching and considers developed and developing worlds as well as the gamut of individual actors in their capacities as elites and leaders. Drawing on the success of the Standing Group’s Section at the 2018 General Conference in Hamburg, we are proposing to host eleven panels. First, we continue to recognize the theoretical and interdisciplinary foundations that make up the study of leaders and elites by including panels on gender and executives as well as political sociology and social psychology. Second, we further the ongoing debates on the challenges facing leaders and political elites as the familiar political environment gives way to something unpredictable. These challenges include the roles of leaders and elites with respect to the threats to European integration, the legitimacy of party politics, and the changing relationship with citizens. In these new and uncertain contexts leaders must adapt and employ new strategies to reconnect with citizens.