When less is more: ‘Negative resources’ and the performance of presidents and prime ministers
| Author | Ludger Helms |
| DOI | 10.1177/0263395717738964 |
| Date | 01 August 2019 |
| Published date | 01 August 2019 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/0263395717738964
Politics
2019, Vol. 39(3) 269 –283
© The Author(s) 2017
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DOI: 10.1177/0263395717738964
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When less is more:
‘Negative resources’ and
the performance of presidents
and prime ministers
Ludger Helms
University of Innsbruck, Austria
Abstract
From the perspective of resource-oriented approaches to political leadership, leaders are
powerful and likely to be seen as eminent if they command a decent set of resources and are able
to use these resources adroitly. Constraints are usually conceptualized as the exact opposite to
resources and considered to shackle leaders, limit their capacity, and make them less eminent.
This article launches two related criticisms of this widely held view: First, many constraints, usually
conceptualized as the opposite to resources, tend to be ambiguous in character; some of them
may even provide opportunities to demonstrate an actor’s particular leadership qualities. Getting
hold of this phenomenon is facilitated by reconceptualising constraints as potential ‘negative
resources’. Second, while leaders commanding limited resources and facing major constraints may,
after all, be still less predominant than resource-rich ‘strong leaders’, the ongoing transformation
of contemporary notions of ‘good leadership’, which values collaboration and exchange over
domination and control, looks set to benefit this type of leaders in terms of recognition and
perceived performance. Empirically, the focus of this article is on political chief executives, that is,
presidents and prime ministers.
Keywords
leadership, performance, presidents, prime ministers, resources
Received: 11th May 2017; Revised version received: 28th September 2017; Accepted: 3rd October 2017
Introduction
The idea of thinking about political leaders in terms of the resources they command is an
old one and tends to provoke little principled opposition. To some extent, this would
appear to be so, because ‘resources’ can refer to fundamentally different things. The basic
ideas of a resource-centred understanding of leadership can be equally well adopted by,
Corresponding author:
Ludger Helms, Department of Political Science, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of
Innsbruck, Universitätsstr 15, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
Email: ludger.helms@uibk.ac.at
738964POL0010.1177/0263395717738964PoliticsHelms
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