The mechanical advantage of the bicycle brake lever should be matched to the brake it is connected to in order for the rider to have sufficient leverage to actuate the brake.
Brake levers designed for calliper brakes may work with centre-pull cantilevers, but not with direct-pull, and linear-pull brakes. Direct pull cantilevers have twice as much mechanical advantage as traditional brakes, so they require a lever with half as much mechanical advantage. Long pull levers pull the cable twice as far, but only half as hard.
Some bikes, especially road bikes with drop handlebars are set up with multiple levers to actuate a single brake. Levers that allow the rider to work the brakes from the tops of the bars. Introduced in the 1970s, these are called extension levers or safety levers. The modern equivalent are called interrupt brake levers and are considered superior.