Our goal in this project is to develop, and apply empirically, an analytical framework for assessing how a party's selection procedures define what it wants from its leader.

The framework emphasises not just what should happen according to party rules, but also the "real story" of how the process actually unfolds. We suggest that this real story has two essential – and hitherto understudied – features. Such is the importance of its leader to a party, we argue that the way in which it selects that individual offers arguably the most illuminating insight into its nature – the party's very idea of itself. As a consequence, our analysis can shed considerable light on contemporary debates about intra-party democracy.