This article discusses the use of expert ranking methodology for assessing the performance and 'place in history' of heads of government, in particular prime ministers (PMs). It reports an expert ranking study of PMs in the Netherlands. Open/ spontaneous as well as criteria-led, more detailed modes of performance assessment are compared. Moreover, the study's findings, pertaining as they do to a PM hemmed in by the need to manage tenuous coalitions in a multi-party consensual democracy, are compared against those of similar exercises conducted for PMs in majoritarian, Westminster style democracies, suggesting that prime-ministerial reputations in multiparty democracies are made on the strength of their longevity in office, their coalition management skills and the policy legacy of their governments. Acta Politica advance online publication, 13 February 2015; doi:10.1057/ap.2015.2 Keywords: prime minister; political leadership; The Netherlands; expert ranking methodology How to Ascertain Prime-Ministerial Performance?Evaluating the performance of government leaders has always been an ordeal. Political candidates can be assessed simply in terms of their electoral fortunes, and party leaders in addition in terms of the coherence and robustness of the party organisation, but how do we systematically evaluate the leadership of prime ministers (PMs) and other heads of government? They are publicly held responsible for 'everything' yet often highly constrained in their ability to shape anything, as many of their memoirs are quick to attest to. Indeed, judgments of chief executive performance are ubiquitous -in the polls, by commentators, among backbenchers, by historians and quite often their predecessors. Many observers are quick to praise them and as quick to damn them. Much talk about prime-ministerial leadership performance is ephemeral, subjective, and politically motivated.
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