The Myth of the Strong Leader

Gorbachev was not, in the conventional sense, a ‘strong leader’. He was not overbearing and was willing both to make tactical retreats and to absorb criticism. In particular, he did not fit Russians’ traditional image of a strong leader.

it true that heads of governments in democracies have become more dominant over time?

One is that a viable party system is an indispensable pillar of a democracy and that when parties are manipulated from above, rather than allowed to develop an independent and influential existence, a country in transition from autocratic or oligarchic rule has got little or no chance of becoming a consolidated democracy. A majority of the successor states to the Soviet Union, including post-Soviet Russia, are cases in point.