Seminar: political leadership and the Australian election

Seminar will explore political leadership and the Australian election

Professor Brian Costar of Melbourne’s Swinburne University of Technology will present a seminar on Political Leadership and the 2013 Australian Election this Thursday..

Professor Costar will outline the belief held by Australian politicians and journalists that leadership is the major determinant of federal elections, despite contradictory views from political science literature.

He will describe how perceptions of leadership dominate high politics. From 1949 to 2013 negative results from personality-focused, horse race polls led to the removal of 22 leaders of the Liberal and Labor parties—of the remaining six, five suffered electoral defeats and another drowned.

Professor Costar’s seminar will address what some political scientists are currently saying about leadership in general; what the research tells us about leadership and election results; the likely influence of leadership in the current election.

Professor Costar holds the Victorian State Chair in Parliamentary Democracy and is the Director of the Democratic Audit of Australia. He has published widely on Australian political parties, elections and voting behaviour, and on the Westminster parliamentary system. He is a frequent commentator on Australian politics in the press and the broadcast media, including for the ABC and the Age newspaper. His current research focuses on coalition politics, campaign finance laws and parliamentary privilege.

The seminar is on Thursday 15 August from 4-5pm in the Federation of Graduate Women’s Suite, Old Government House.

ENDS

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