ABSTRACT
Ideological commitments to neoliberalism have re-shaped demo-cratic institutions. Situating public higher education as an institution of democracy, this article identifies and unpacks the ways in which traditional approaches to leadership learning and development in public higher education affirm neoliberal ideology in the United State of America (USA). Artificially produced consumer demand for specific types of leadership education in higher education are increasingly positioned to play on the social, political, and economic insecurities of those disadvantaged by neoliberal ideology. The “Tripod Ontology” of leader, follower, and shared purpose is proble-matized through the political lens of power and choice. A critical ontology of leadership education and devel-opment in higher education that resists neoliberal ideology will center practices of immanent critique. Interpretative work that creates space for dialogue, relationship, and everyday practice can become part of the ontological basis of a critical approach to leader-ship learning and development in higher education.
