The true essence of all social processes consists in erecting to a throne of the most capable person

Thomas Karlejl

I. Leadership as the social and political phenomenon is universal. Political leaders are most the men of weight, capable to mobilise a society or its considerable part for achievement of socially significant purposes. The leader in translation from English (leader) means "leader", “a specifying way”. The sense of this word reflects mission of the person-leader, its place and a role in a society, processes in which it is involved, its functions. For the leader ability of influence on other people, ability to organise their joint activity for achievement of socially significant purposes is characteristic. The political leader, personalising power and management system, personifies this power in the opinion of all society or groups of citizens:

Political leadership as the phenomenon is a way of interaction of the leader and the masses in which process the leader makes considerable impact on this masses. It, in essence, represents a special sort of the power consisting in ability of one person or several persons, being on top of an imperious pyramid, to force others to do that positive or negative that they, most likely, would not do in general;

Political leadership is a kind of the political activity representing process of interaction in which course one people (leaders) know and express requirements and interests of the followers and owing to it possess prestige and influence, and other (supporters) voluntary give them a part of the imperious powers for realisation of purposeful representation and realisation of public interests;

Political leadership is a constant, priority influence from the certain person on all society, the political organisation or the big social group;

Political leadership is an administrative status, the social position connected with acceptance of imperious decisions, it is a supervising post;

Political leadership is a symbol of a generality and the sample of political behaviour of group (groups), ability to realise (their) its interests by means of the power.

Proceeding from such understanding of a phenomenon of leadership, the political leader can be defined as the person who carries out functions on management of a society, the political organisation or movement, is capable to change a course of events and an orientationof political processes in the country. Political leaders put forward the programs defining a course of historical development of a society. Each leader is original as a policy phenomenon, but at all their variety at them it is possible to find out important general properties in all:

- A passionarity as Lev Nikolaevich Gumilev has defined (1912-1992) known redundancy of biochemical energy at some people. Ten thousand the people, actively politicising in any country, hardly incur responsibility for destinies of the people only for the sake of the power, glories or riches as hope to catch them often do not come true. At all at them, most likely, the aspiration to change world around exceeds a self-preservation instinct. However an orientation of energy of many пассионариев quite often appear not at the right time and out of place, they perish as the high-grade seeds which have got to unprepared soil. But those from them, whose offers find the response in a society as correspond to its actual requirements, become political leaders;

- Initiative or acceptance on itself of responsibility for the initiative of political actions, a direction and mobilisation of political force. Thus it is impossible to assert that the deep understanding of laws of development of a society is peculiar to all leaders. The history has shown that many leaders were not the cleverest and the most formed of the contemporaries, some in general appeared adventurers;

- Possession certain political intuition. She allows leaders to seize that others cannot see or calculate in concrete situations. The intuition appears much more important scientific knowledge, theoretical preparation. Outstanding political leaders were not scientists, political scientists even if them and called “coryphaeuses of all sciences”;

- Ability to convince, is faster - to carry away and to conduct behind itself people. It, most likely, display of certain charisma.

Interest to leadership and attempts to comprehend this difficult social phenomenon originate in an extreme antiquity. Antique historians of Gerodot (484-420 BC), Plutarh (apprx. 45 apprx. 127), Poliby (apprx. 220 apprx. 120 BC)paid the main attention to leaders, commanders, heroes, monarchs, legislators who for them served as a live embodiment of the power and history. In XIX century the French sociologist Emil Djurkgejm and a number of other scientists have put forward idea that in due course the role of persons in the power and a society will decrease, giving way to public structures and institutes. The forecast, however, has not justified. It has appeared, as in difficult organised state citizens it is easier and охотнее trust people being in power, than anonymous structures thanks to that similar leadership possesses a number of specific features:

- As a rule, between the national leader and a society there is no direct interaction, it is mediated by parties, political groups and movements, mass media;

- It has many-sided character as the leader is always focused on the coordination of various social interests, forcedly aspires to the justification of mass expectations of favorable results from its activity;

- Political leadership корпоративно;

- It to some extent институционализировано, that is activity of the leader is limited by existing social relations, norms, decision-making processes;

- The phenomenon of political leadership is based on abilities of the head among which the American sociologist E.Bogardus marks a strength of mind, will, charm (magnetism) of the person, resoluteness, hypnotic abilities, a keen intuition, sense of humour, a step, ability to draw to itself attention.

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