The recent literature on public leadership: Reviewed and considered

The purpose of the article is to review the academic literature on public leadership. The discussion is generally confined to books and articles in which leadership in the public realm is explicitly at the center of the discussion; and it is limited to materials published in 1999 and 2000. The literature on leadership is divided into five groups: individuals, groups/organizations, nations, transnational arrangements, and cross-cutting themes (diversity, ethics, mass movements). The article concludes by noting that although the literature on public leadership, at least as generated by contemporary academicians, remains meager, it is growing in richness and diversity. In fact, this review demonstrates that scholars, teachers, and practitioners have a range of relevant materials from which to draw information and ideas. An enormous amount of work remains to be done before the literature on public leadership reaches a critical mass. But some good work is being accomplished in a field that is clearly expanding, and that is of increasing interest to constituencies both within and outside academia.