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The Outsider as Political Leader: The Case of Margaret Thatcher

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2002

ANTHONY KING
Affiliation:
Department of Government, University of Essex.

Abstract

Outsiders are familiar figures in literature but feature scarcely at all in political analysis. This is despite the fact that some of the most significant political leaders of recent decades have been outsiders, including Britain's Margaret Thatcher. She was certainly a social outsider. She was almost certainly a psychological outsider. Not least, she chose to operate politically as an outsider. Her career points to both the strengths and the weaknesses of the role of the outsider as political leader.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2002 Cambridge University Press

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