The vertical and horizontal dimensions in the social construction of leadership: A case study on the social media followers of the Croatian politicians Zoran Milanović and Miro Bulj

This research examines the social construction of political leadership by social media followers of two Croatian politicians, president Zoran Milanović, and the mayor of Sinj, Miro Bulj, within the context of celebrity politics and populism. Through the interaction between theory and analysis, we integrate elements that construct leadership into what we distinguish as vertical (extraordinary) and horizontal (ordinary) dimensions, adding populism as an element of both dimensions. This analysis is grounded in the qualitative content analysis of 20 interviews with the two politicians’ Facebook followers, empirically showing that neither one of the elements is dominating the construction of leadership, putting the focus on the importance of the balance between the dimensions of verticality and horizontality, with modesty allowing for the mediation between the extraordinary and the ordinary. Equally important is the followers position that a perfect balance between verticality and horizontality (and a perfect leader) cannot be achieved. In short, leadership is shown to be paradoxical but not contradictory, as it is an always imperfect reconciliation of the horizontal and vertical dimensions.