Leading Democracy: The Emergence of Party Leaders and Their Roles in the Hungarian Parties

In the many recent studies of Hungarian party politics, the parties’ procedural and organizational features have been neglected. This is especially true in respect of the selection of the party leader and party leadership. The sociological aspects of leadership have been examined quite extensively, in the case both of individual leaders and of group leadership. In particular, there have been a number of studies of elitemass relationships,1 the demographic characteristics of leaders and their career patterns.2 The processes through which party leaders emerge, however, have not been examined at length.