Robert Elgie is Paddy Moriarty Professor of Government and International Studies at Dublin City University, Ireland. He is the editor of the journal French Politics. He is the founder and co-editor of the Palgrave Studies in Presidential Politics book series. He is a Member of the Royal Irish Academy (MRIA).

1. Making Sense of the World.- 2. Making Sense of Political Leadership.- 3. The Psychological Effects of Presidential Institutions.- 4. Regime Types, Presidential Power, and Clarity of Economic Responsibility.- 5. Presidential Power and President/Cabinet Conflict.- 6. Party Politics and Presidential Control of the Cabinet in France.- 7. Institutional Choice and Leadership Outcomes in France.- 8. The Institutional Origins of Cohabitation in Romania.- 9. Conclusion.

This book provides a philosophically informed, institutionalist account of political leadership. It is rooted in a certain version of the American pragmatist philosophical tradition and privileges the study of institutions as a cause of leadership outcomes. The book adopts a multi-method approach. It includes a laboratory experiment identifying the psychological effects of presidentialism and parliamentarism on leader behavior; a large-n statistical study of the impact of semi-presidentialism on voter choice; an expert survey of president/cabinet conflict in Europe; an analysis of presidential control over cabinet composition in France; and two in-depth case studies of the circumstances surrounding constitutional choice in France and Romania. This book is aimed at scholars and students of political leadership, political institutions, the philosophy of the social sciences, and research methods. Overall, it shows that an institutional account has the potential to generate well-settled beliefs about the causes of leadership outcomes.