Studying Beliefs of Political leaders: Exploring Conditions for Change in the Eurozone Crisis.

Abstract

Research in leadership studies shows that the beliefs of political leaders affect their political and policymaking behaviour, especially in times of crisis. Moreover, the level of flexibility of political leaders’ beliefs influences the likeliness that groups of leaders come to collective decisions. We lack insight into the question when and why political leaders do in fact change their beliefs. This paper uses fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) to examine the antecedents of belief change among twelve European leaders in the realm of economic policy. The findings reveal how unemployment, unsustainable debt, government ideology and Euroscepticism lead to economic belief changes and present a first step in opening the ‘black box’ of when, why and under what conditions leaders may change their beliefs.