Europe's Leadership Famine: Portraits of defiance and decay 1950-2022

Representative democracy endured in Europe because its political leaders' deviousness and self-advancement were balanced by altruism, fortitude and civic virtue. However, in this century, the reputation and calibre of politicians has slumped in country after country, as fads, image, process, triviality and spin are promoted over experience, prudence and long-term outcomes. National leadership roles are increasingly filled by inexperienced careerists, who are disconnected from the people on whose behalf they are supposed to rule. How can Europe remain mostly free and adequately governed, if this leadership famine drags on?Reviewed by Jim Sillars in Think Scotland, 7 July 2023>Tom Gallagher has written a superb book on European politics. I cannot over-state its value given the lessons to be learnt from it. HOW WAS it possible for the dogs of war to be let loose in Europe, thirty-one years after the struggle between the West and the Soviet Union came to a conclusion, and seemed to begin a long term era of peace? Tom Gallagher's book... provides a good number of the answers. We are witnessing the consequences of the political ascendancy of a cosmopolitan professional political elite, skilled in spin and immersed in managerialism, but woefully short on statesmanship. This is a book both for people with a general interest in politics, and for those who practice the art, for whom there are lessons to be learnt, about recognising the clash between the legitimate interests of nation states and international institutions'.Reviewed by Dom Wightman in Country Squire, July 2023>Mr Gallagher has written an excellent book on European politics, on the backs of the careers of twenty politicians of different hues and flaws. After reading it, one wonders if the political parties of today should not fast revise their recruitment policies.Let's hope that the lessons to be learnt from this book are taken on board and that they do not make for mere footnotes to a period of peace before another large-scale European war. This book is well worth buying and sticking under the noses of your children or grandchildren, even your MP if you think they're tough enough to handle its hard truths.