RESUMO Introdução: Investigamos, a partir de uma perspectiva interpretativa, a forma pela qual os políticos espanhóis e portugueses administraram a crise da dívida entre 2008 e 2016. Especificamente, exploramos a carreira política e as ações de dois primeiros-ministros da Espanha (Zapareto e Rajoy) e dois de Portugal (Sócrates e Passos Coelho) a fim de verificar como suas biografias influenciaram a forma pela qual eles geriram essa crise. Materiais e métodos: A partir do estudo qualitativo desses quatro casos, destacamos as histórias de vida dos primeiros-ministros e comparamos seus habitus, enquadramento mental, capital político, o campo político e suas respectivas atuações na perspectiva do construtivismo estruturalista e da teoria da Nova Liderança. Resultados: A negação inicial da crise econômica no discurso público desses líderes prejudicou a capacidade de comando, diminuiu a confiança política e foi a razão da incoerência entre fala e ação na implementação das políticas de austeridade. Geralmente, líderes políticos que implementaram essas políticas econômicas tiveram sérios problemas de continuidade no cargo, independentemente de sua orientação ideológica. Discussão: A crise político-institucional provocada pela sobreposição entre a política nacional desses dois países e a orientação política da União Europeia limitou a autonomia dos primeiros-ministros portugueses e espanhois. Concluímos que líderes sinceros, capazes de distinguir responsabilidades e que sabem se comunicar com os eleitores têm maiores chances de sobreviver politicamente.

ABSTRACT Introduction: Through an interpretative perspective, we investigate how Spanish and Portuguese politicians managed the 2008 and 2016 debt crisis. Specifically, we explore their political career and the actions of two prime ministers of Spain (Zapareto and Rajoy) and two from Portugal (Sócrates and Passos Coelho) with intent to check how their biographies influenced the way which they dealt with the crisis. Materials and methods: From a qualitative study from these four cases, we highlight the prime minister’s life choices and compare their habitus, mental frame, political capital, the political field and their respective actions under a structuralist constructivist perspective and the New Leadership theory. Results: The initial denial of the economic crisis in the public speech of these leaders harmed their command capability, lowered their political trust, and was the reason for incoherence between their speeches and actions on implementing austerity policies. Usually, political leaders that implemented these economic policies faced serious continuity problems in their seats, regardless of their ideological orientation. Discussion: The political and institutional crisis caused by the overlapping of the national policies of these two countries, and the political orientation of the European Union narrowed the autonomy of the Spanish and Portuguese prime ministers. We conclude that sincere leaders, capable of distinguishing responsibilities, and able to communicate with voters have greater chances to survive politically.

ABSTRACT This article analyzes and contextualizes the phenomenon of political leadership in the context of the world of limited and moderate globalization after the global health crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result of this pandemic and of changes prior to it, a new world is emerging, characterized by profound global transformations, as well as the recurring prominence of states, national institutions and of political leaders. These actors draw our attention through two questions: what features define the socio-political context in which political leaders must act? What qualities and styles do such leaders need to incorporate in the face of current challenges? In response to both questions, contextual factors are first analyzed in terms of national and global leadership. Then, the context and the concept of globalization are outlined, arguing how that contributes to understanding the current political dynamics. Third, the main theories on leadership are reviewed, conceptualized in light of the new world. Lastly, we reflect on the present context, the qualities and styles of leadership.

RESUMEN Este artículo analiza el fenómeno del liderazgo político en el marco del mundo de la globalización atemperada y limitada, a raíz de la crisis sanitaria global causada por la pandemia de la Covid-19. Como resultado de dicha pandemia, y de cambios anteriores a ésta, se transita hacia un mundo que se caracteriza por profundas transformaciones globales, así como por el recurrente protagonismo de los Estados e instituciones nacionales y de los liderazgos políticos, los cuales centran nuestra atención a través de dos preguntas: ¿qué rasgos definen el contexto sociopolítico en el que los liderazgos políticos han de actuar?, ¿qué cualidades y estilos requieren incorporar dichos liderazgos ante los retos actuales? Atendiendo a ambas preguntas, en primer lugar, se analizan los factores contextuales en clave nacional y global del liderazgo. Luego, se delimita el contexto y el concepto de globalización y se argumenta cómo ello contribuye a entender las vigentes dinámicas políticas. En tercer lugar, se revisan las teorías sobre el liderazgo y éste es conceptualizado a la luz del nuevo mundo. Finalmente, se reflexiona sobre el presente contexto, las cualidades y estilos del liderazgo.

ABSTRACT: In this article we set forth an approach concerning the processes of political leadership within the polyarchies or representative democracies. Scholars such as Bryman, Burns, Kouzes, Linz, or Posner define the political leadership as a relationship of exchange between a leader and his followers by way of the vision that the former conveys as a motivational factor. Based on this notion and in connection with Pierre Bourdieu's structural-constructivist approach we argue the pertinence of studying political leadership by integrating its subjective and objective dimensions. Hence, political leadership is considered, on the one hand, as a socio-culturally constructed phenomenon, stressing especially the notions of frame, habitus, field, and symbolic capital; while proposing on the other hand a diachronic study of political leadership aimed at understanding the real process of symbolic capital accumulation by political leaders.

RESUMEN: En este artículo proponemos un enfoque para analizar los procesos de liderazgo político en el seno de las poliarquías o democracias representativas. Autores como Bryman, Burns, Kouzes, Linz y Posner, entre otros, definen el liderazgo político como una relación de intercambio entre líder y seguidores a través de la visión que comunica el primero como elemento incentivador. A partir de esta idea y en articulación con el enfoque del constructivismo estructuralista de Pierre Bourdieu, se argumenta la pertinencia de estudiar el liderazgo político integrando sus dimensiones subjetiva y objetiva. Así, por un lado, se concibe dicho liderazgo como un fenómeno construido socioculturalmente, haciendo especial hincapié en los conceptos de marco, habitus, campo y capital simbólico. Por otro lado, se plantea un estudio diacrónico del liderazgo para poder captar el proceso real de acumulación de capital simbólico por parte de los líderes políticos.

El Ejido is a Southeastern Spanish town that has passed, from being small and devoted to subsistence agriculture at the beginning of 1960s, to have today more than 85.000 inhabitants and a very thriving economy of greenhouses fully inserted in the globalization dynamics. These dynamics have brought about contradictory effects and different reactions in the two key social actors in El Ejido; i.e., farmers and immigrants, among which there are deep socioeconomic disparities and labor exploitation relations. As a result, immigrants and farmers are living in two completely dissimilar social worlds and so they have opposite attitudes and perceptions on reality which, in turn, shapes their respective possibilities and types of reaction and/or protest.

El Ejido es una ciudad del sudeste español que ha pasado de ser una pequeña aldea dedicada a la agricultura de subsistencia, a principios de 1960, a tener en 2015 más de 85.000 habitantes. Este cambio se debe al desarrollo de una economía de invernaderos muy próspera que hoy está totalmente inserta en las dinámicas de la globalización. Tales dinámicas han ocasionado efectos contradictorios y han suscitado reacciones y/o formas de protesta diferentes en los dos principales actores sociales de El Ejido (los agricultores y los inmigrantes), entre los que se observan profundas asimetrías socioeconómicas y relaciones de explotación laboral. Como consecuencia, los inmigrantes y los agricultores viven en dos mundos sociales completamente diferentes y tienen percepciones y actitudes opuestas sobre la realidad, las cuales, a su vez, afectan a sus respectivas posibilidades y modos de reacción y/o de protesta.