ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates how intra-party dynamics affect the survival of the party leader and the likelihood of a leader replacement. The results indicate that the autonomy of the leader, and therefore his ability to handle intra-party conflicts, depends on the internal mechanisms of leader’s selection. The magnitude of the intra-party ideological conflict or the adoption of a “winner-takes-all” style of portfolio allocation have a negative effect on the duration of the party leader, though only when the leader is indirectly selected in a smoke-filled room by a small committee, as in this context the leader will be merely an agent of the party executive with little or no autonomy. Conversely, the leader’s style of payoffs allocation and the rise of intra-party ideological conflict are no longer damaging when the internal rules grant more autonomy to the party leader.
