Political Leadership and Economic Growth

A Comparative Analysis of the Arab Gulf Region, Western Europe and Southeast Asia

Comprehensive studies that offer systematic theory-building or comparisons of the political strategies and practices of national executives across regime types and cultural regions in the realm of economic policy remain uncommon.

In this research project, I seek to bridge that gap by studying the mechanisms of how and to what extent different patterns of political leadership performance shape a country’s economic growth in relation to its political institutional design (e.g. democracy vs. non-democracy). In particular, I focus on trends of personalization in democracies and study leaders’ institutional embeddedness in single-party regimes and dynastic monarchies. Specifically, I am interested in the performance and leadership styles of heads of government and state in Western Europe, the Arab Gulf states and Southeast Asia, their strategies of political communication and public representation, and their multifarious relations with the economic sector.

Publications of this project include, e.g. “Leaders around the World: New Horizons in the Comparative Study of Political Leadership” in Tolstikov-Mast et al. (eds.), Routledge Handbook of International and Cross-Cultural Leadership Research Processes (2021, pp. 86-97).