Political Leaders of Contemporary Western Europe: A Biographical Dictionary

by David Wilsford

Overview

Recognized scholars from 15 countries offer rich political analyses of 71 European leaders chosen for the significant roles that they have played nationally, regionally, or internationally since 1945. Each in-depth political and intellectual biography assesses the leader's achievements and failures in historical context, key career moments, major allies and opponents and their impact, and the leader's interplay with different political institutions. The essays arranged alphabetically also give a few primary and secondary sources for further research. A short chronology and bibliographical essay on the subject of European political leadership and a full index further enhance this major reference designed for students, scholars, government officials, and jourbanalists in political affairs, European studies, world history, and international relations.

The essays arranged alphabetically also give a few primary and secondary sources for further research. A short chronology and bibliographical essay on the subject of European political leadership and a full index further enhance this major reference designed for undergraduates and graduate students and for scholars, government officials, and jourbanalists in political affairs, European studies, world history, and international relations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313286230
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	05/23/1995
Series:	Greenwood Library Management
Pages:	536
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.31(d)
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

DAVID WILSFORD is President and Professor at the Institute for American Universities in Aix-en-Provence, France. He is the author of Doctors and the State (1991) and many articles on industrial and social policies in the advanced industrial democracies. Wilsford is currently working on a forthcoming book, The Comparative Economy of Health Care.

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction
Konrad Adenauer
Giulio Andreotti
Clement Attlee
Baudoin I
Enrico Berlinger and Bettino Craxi
Willy Brandt
Gro Harlem Bruntland
Santiago Carrillo
Jacques Chirac
André Cools
Alcide De Gaspari
Charles de Gaulle
Eaman de Valera
Michel Debré
Joop den Uyl
Willem Drees
Ludwig Erhard
Tage Erlander
Thorbjörn Fälldin
Garret FitzGerald
Harilaos Florakis
Francisco Franco
Hans-Dietrich Genscher
Einar Gerhardsen
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
Felipe González
Jörg Haider
Charles Haughey
Erich Honecker
John XXIII
Juan Carlos I
Konstantinos Karamanlis
Urho Kekkonen
Petra Kelly
Neil Kinnock
Helmut Kohl
Jens Otto Krag
Bruno Kreisky
Jean-Marie Le Pen
Sean Lemass
Ruud Lubbers
Joseph Luns
Harold Macmillan
Georges Marchais
Wilfried Martens
Pierre Mendès-France
Konstantinos Mitsotakis
Francois Mitterrand
Gustav Möller
Aldo Moro
Juho Kusti Paasikivi
Olof Palme
Andreas Papandreou
George Papandreou
Julius Raab
Karl Renner
Michel Rocard
Oliveira Salazar
Poul Schlütter
Helmut Schmidt
Mario Soares
Paul Henri Spaak
Franz-Joseph Straub
Dirk U. Stikker
Adolf Suárez
Margaret Thatcher
Leo Tindemanns
Palmiro Togliatti
Franz Vranitzky
Kare Willoch
Harold Wilson
Notes on Contributors

Editorial Reviews

Biographical sketches and political evaluations of about 70 leaders of governments and national parties in western Europe during the current and previous generation. Among them are Konrad Adenauer, Baudouin I, Jacques Chirac, Charles de Gaulle, Eamon De Valera, Tage Erlander, Erich Honecker, Juan Carlos I, Urho Kekkonen, Neil Kinnock, Helmut Kohl, Francois Mitterand, George Papandreou, Helmut Schmidt, and Harold Wilson. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

Similar to other volumes in Greenwood's Political Leaders series such as "Political Leaders of Contemporary Africa South of the Sahara" ["RBB" O 15 92], this one was prepared by scholars for students (undergraduate and graduate) and professionals in political science. The alphabetically arranged entries analyze 71 representative leaders from 15 countries who have played significant roles in Western Europe since 1945. Entries include the expected (Konrad Adenauer, Charles de Gaulle, John XXIII, and both Papandreouses) and the less familiar (Joop den Uyl and Julius Raab). Winston Churchill is not listed because his major impact was pre-1945, and Switzerland has no representative because the Swiss political scientists consulted "felt that no Swiss leader merited treatment in a book of this kind." The editor anticipates objections to the relative absence of women and minorities in this volume by pointing out that leaders in post-1945 Western Europe have been, for the most part, "old white males. The authors and translators of each article are identified, and most articles direct readers to primary and secondary sources for further reading, some of them in languages other than English. Each essay analyzes its subject biographically and politically. The full index, the listing of subjects by country, and the chronology (arranged by subjects' birthdates and including major political events from the 1930s forward) are helpful as is the prefatory essay on leaders and leadership that summarizes Weber's charismatic-vs.-routine and Burns' transactional-vs.-transformational descriptions of political modes Information on a few of the subjects (Harold Macmillan, Margaret Thatcher) is easy to find elsewhere, but the leaders from the Scandinavian countries and the Netherlands are not covered in standard reference sources. Recommended for academic and large public libraries.

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