Governing under Pressure? The Mental Wellbeing of Politicians. Issue 2 (26th December 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Flinders, Matthew; Weinberg, Ashley; Weinberg, James; Geddes, Marc; Kwiatkowski, Richard
• Is Part Of: Parliamentary affairs. Volume 73:Issue 2(2020)
• Page Start: 253
• Page End: 273
• Publication Date: 2018-12-26
• Subjects: Politicians -- Wellbeing -- Mental Health -- Political Stressors -- Democracy; Representative government and representation -- Periodicals; Legislative bodies -- Periodicals; Great Britain -- Politics and government -- Periodicals; Legislative bodies; Political science; Representative government and representation; Great Britain; Periodicals; Periodicals; 328.4105
• DOI: 10.1093/pa/gsy046
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0031-2290

Abstract

Abstract: Despite the singular importance of the work of national politicians in creating legislation, representing constituents and holding government to account, relatively little work has been done concerning their wellbeing and psychological health. There are unique, as well as universal, stressors that impact upon politicians; a neglect of these issues has profound consequences for those individuals and wider democracy. We propose a 'taxonomy of stressors' as a starting point for further inter-disciplinary and comparative research, and argue that it offers analytical leverage vis-à-vis a far broader set of debates concerning the future of representative democracy.