Model for research of the style of political leadership in Serbia at the crossing of the millennium

pages: 211-238

Abstract

This article indicated a model for a scientific description of styles of political leadership in Serbia from 1990 to the present, more precisely, pointed the basic elements of concept developed by the author in the study “The style of political leaders in Serbia in the period 1990-2006” (2010). For the evaluation the author uses analytical tools that include the aforementioned concept, simultaneously indicating correlative theoretical approaches the aforementioned study did not examine, and may be of importance for the research of political elites in Serbia. This contributes the epistemological part of the method, which is registered in the definition of the style of political leadership as a term and the category apparatus that follows - understood from the aspect of the political style: the style in building political power, the style of political communication, the style of building one’s legitimacy, the ideological style, the styles of political language, symbolism and rituals, non-verbal communication and style in expressing patriotism. Starting from the fact that political styles are related to characteristics of political cultures and that it is necessary to make a concept of ideal typical models of styles focused on political subjects, this article marked the styles of political leadership typology related to the specific acting of political leaders in Serbia: authoritarian, republican, realistic, populist, conformist, revolutionary and style of a politician-rebel. Keywords: political style, political leadership, research model, styles of political leadership typology, Republic of Serbia