The Politics Prime Ministers Make: Political Time and Executive Leadership in Westminster Systems

Abstract

This chapter introduces, modifies and applies American political scientist Stephen Skowronek�s influential contextual theory of presidential leadership in political time to prime-ministerial leadership in parliamentary democracies. The theory is based upon a cyclical notion of political time in relation to the rise, consolidation and decay of political �regimes� (or policy paradigms). Different opportunity structures for political leadership are created by the interplay of these regime cycles and a president/prime minister�s degree of affiliation with the regime or policy paradigm they inherit upon taking office. The applicability and efficacy of transplanting Skowronek�s political time theory to Westminster democracies is explored through empirical cases studies of the comparative leadership records of three modern Australian prime ministers, Malcolm Fraser, Bob Hawke and Paul Keating.