The central problem that guides my research is the tension between democracy and leadership. Given that leadership entails a power inequality between those who follow and those who lead, and given that democracy promises the political equality of all citizens, can leadership ever be compatible with democracy? What distinguishes democratic from non-democratic forms of leadership? While political leaders play a pivotal role in all existing democracies, democratic theory is surprisingly silent when it comes to assessing the appropriate role for leadership in such regimes. My work identifies this gap in contemporary democratic theory and offers a way forward.

Dissertation

My dissertation, The Puzzle of Leadership in Democratic Theory, traces the evolution of democratic theory since the end of World War Two, revealing how different scholars and schools of thought have addressed the puzzle of leadership in a democratic setting. I focus on three democratic traditions: the realist, the participatory, and the deliberative. However, I conclude that none of them, not even a combination of them, can help us solve the conceptual riddle democratic leadership poses. Drawing on the theory and practice of democracy in ancient Athens, I propose an alternative, and more productive, way of thinking about the role of leaders in democratic regimes. Under the right conditions, I contend, leadership enables and boosts democratic governance. 

Publications  

• “Relativism and Leadership in Hans Kelsen’s Theory of Democracy” (co-authored with Carlo Invernizzi Accetti). In Hans Kelsen on Constitutional Democracy: Genesis, Theory, Legacies (co-edited by David Ragazzoni and Sandrine Baume). Under contract with Cambridge University Press.

Work in Progress

• “Rethinking Leadership: The Realist Approach and its Limits”

• “Participatory Democracy: Sixty Years Later”