Leaders and their followers in a dangerous world : the psychology of political behavior
What impels leaders to lead and followers to follow? How did Osama bin Laden, the son of a multibillionaire construction magnate in Saudi Arabia, become the world's number one terrorist? What are the psychological foundations of man's inhumanity to man, ethnic cleansing, and genocide? Jerrold M. Post contends that such questions can be answered only through an understanding of the psychological foundations of leader personality and political behavior. Post was founding director of the Center for the Analysis of Personality and Political Behavior for the CIA. He developed the political personality profiles of Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat for President Jimmy Carter's use at the Camp David talks and initiated the U.S. government's research program on the psychology of political terrorism. He was awarded the Intelligence Medal of Merit in 1979 for his leadership of the center. In this book, he draws on psychological and personality theories, as well as interviews with individual terrorists and those who have interacted with particular leaders, to discuss a range of issues: the effects of illness and age on a leader's political behavior; narcissism and the relationship between followers and a charismatic leader; the impact of crisisinduced stress on policymakers; the mind of the terrorist, with a consideration of "killing in the name of God"; and the need for enemies and the rise of ethnic conflict and terrorism in the postCold War environment. The leaders he discusses include Fidel Castro, Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, Kim Jong Il, and Slobodan Milosevic
Case Reports
xvii, 302 pages : illustrations
9780801441691, 0801441692
53139496
9/11, the explosive force of personality and political behavior
When personality affects political behavior
The psychopolitics of illness in high office
Terminal leadership, effects of mortal illness on political behavior
The impact of crisis-induced stress on policy makers
The mind of the terrorist
The loss of enemies: fragmenting identities and ethnic/nationalist hatred in Eastern Europe
Hate-mongering leaders in the former Yugoslavia: Radovan Karadzic and Slobodan Milosevic
Narcissism and the charismatic leader-follower relationship
Fidel Castro, aging revolutionary leader of an aging revolution
Saddam Hussein, "Saddam is Iraq, Iraq is Saddam"
Kim Jong II of North Korea, in the shadow of his father
Concluding observations