Leadership for development: what do people want?

As part of the College of Social Sciences inaugural lecture series, we are delighted to present the inaugural lecture of David Hudson, Professor of Politics and Development.  

On the one hand, great stock is placed on the potential of leaders to transform lives for the better and on the other for their part in undermining progress and inflicting corruption, economic stagnation, and exclusion on societies. Yet with that said, what being ‘a leader’ means and looks like, is culturally specific. It varies within and between countries and an assumption that what works ‘here’ should work ‘there’ is foolish. At the same time, the universality of the Sustainable Development Goals has formalised a rarely admitted fact: we are all developing countries. Whether in the global north or south, rich or poor, all countries face development challenges: rising inequality, destitution, environmental degradation, and corruption.

Given this, what kind of leadership do people want for development both ‘here’ and ‘there’? Drawing on recent research findings, in this talk Professor Hudson discusses the results from surveys and experiments in Indonesia and the UK about public perceptions of leadership and what citizens want in a leader when it comes to driving developmental change.