Political management. The dance of government and politics. Jennifer Lees‐Marshment 2021. 244 pages. Paperback. £34.99. ISBN: 9780367467043

• Published date: 01 November 2020
• Author: Christopher Robertson
• Date: 01 November 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2226

BOOK REVIEW

Political management. The dance of government and politics

Edited by Jennifer Lees-Marshment

2021. 244 pages. Paperback. £34.99. ISBN: 9780367467043

In this book, Jennifer Lees-Marshment provides a pioneering and

innovative exploration into the sparsely populated literature of

political management, effectively constructing “the first conceptual

architecture for the emerging field of political management”(Lees-

Marshment, 2021, p. 239). Despite the array of previous work ostensi-

bly examining political management, it is argued that the rigour and

depth of this research and its subsequent teaching is limited, inher-

ently justifying a comprehensive study to develop this largely

unacknowledged phenomenon.

The book begins with the author justifying the importance and

nature of political management, outlining the pragmatist and multi-

method methodology of the work, and discerning that, due to the lack

of research defining political management, the book will pioneeringly

question “what is political management? What does it involve?”(Lees-

Marshment, 2021, p. 11). Subsequently, the opening chapter rightly

discusses justifications for the work and presents the theory-building

nature of this seminal study that is underpinned by empirical illustra-

tions through political documents and high-profile practitioner per-

spectives on political management from across differing socio-political

and geographical contexts, both in the national and the devolved

political spheres.

In-line with the theory-building scope of the book, Lees-Mar-

shment (2021) discerns that there are five core areas of political

management:

1Political planning

2Political organising

3Political HR

4Political leadership

5Political reviewing

Each of these facets are examined through astutely written chap-

ters examining sub-sections of each facet of political management,

such as the importance of understanding the mission being the first

area of political planning, before then setting a vision statement for

what an organisation wants to achieve (Lees-Marshment, 2021). Each

chapter is buttressed by case-led analysis to situate areas of political

management in relation to empirical examples, alongside appropriating

invaluable excerpts from high-profile practitioners such as the Chief

of Staff to Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and New Zealand

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. These cases accentuate the real-life

importance of political management and, by situating each facet of

political management in relation to real-life events, they situate how

different methods of political management have succeeded or failed

following different implementations.

Following chapters on the five core areas of political manage-

ment, the final chapter facilitates a synthesis of these ideas to create a

pioneering model of “the four Ds”of political management. These

“four Ds”weave in facets of political management discussed in previ-

ous chapters and accentuate the cardinal areas of political manage-

ment proposed for further research:

1Deliberating: “Deliberating, at heart, is about thinking –an under-

done activity in the high speed game of politics and government,

but no less essential…Deliberating should be completed before

designing, doing and dancing”(Lees-Marshment, 2021, p. 209)

2Designing: “Designing is about planning what to do, using informa-

tion and understanding from deliberating to create strategic goals

and plans”(Lees-Marshment, 2021, p. 215).

3Doing: “Doing is the most standard part of political management

and is about implementation and managing the people involved”

(Lees-Marshment, 2021, p. 223).

4Dancing: “Dancing is the more nebulous yet tremendously powerful

aspect of political management which involves using tactical, artful

and adaptive power sources and leadership approaches that are not

always clearly defined or official”(Lees-Marshment, 2021, p. 229).

Through formulating the “four Ds”model, Lees-Marshment (2021)

effectively constructs a rigorous starting point for a future political

management research agenda, and effectively highlights research gaps

in political management, with practitioners almost unanimously

asserting that political HR is a largely neglected area that requires seri-

ous attention. Indeed, Lees-Marshment (2021) asserts that, as a semi-

nal text, the “four Ds”model will be open to critique and development

in the future. However, as a starting point, this model represents a

welcome inception for future political management research: an

extremely important field of research that will provide essential

insights for scholars and practitioners of political management alike.

Over the book's seven chapters, important questions across poli-

tics, political communication, political strategy and management are

Received: 11 June 2020Accepted: 11 June 2020

DOI: 10.1002/pa.2226

J Public Affairs. 2020;20:e2226.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa© 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd1of2

https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2226