Surfing the hurricane: Iberian leaderships during the Debt Crisis from biographical and interpretive perspective

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.