Jean Krasno

Personality, Political Leadership, and Decision Making: A Global Perspective Jean Krasno

Commendation Quotes: "The personalities of political leaders are of enduring significance because they matter. The personality traits that characterize particular leaders, their motives, and their understandings are crucial guides to their political choices. And nowhere can you get a wider perspective and better understanding of 'what makes leaders tick' than in this important book."Commendation Quotes: "Jean Krasno and Sean LaPides have edited a volume sure to become a go-to source for foreign policy analysts interested in how personality affects foreign and domestic policy-making worldwide. Covering a wide variety of leaders--living and dead, male and female, with only two Americans out of nineteen leaders examined--no other volume can match its range. In addition, Krasno contributes a useful four-fold typology of leadership personality, tracing each type to predispositions in policymaking. The book is an engaging read, and students and scholars alike will find much of value in its pages."Biographical Note: Jean Krasno is a tenured member of the faculty in the department of political science at the City College of New York (CCNY) and a lecturer and associate research scientist at Yale University. Sean LaPides is a researcher and writer with the Research Foundation-CUNY. Formerly, he was research coordinator for the Kofi Annan papers project. Publisher Marketing: Many wonder what it takes to be a leader. Is it a natural or learned set of skills? This book examines the personalities of a selected group of political leaders, analyzes the forces that formed their nature--most notably their leadership tendencies--and then demonstrates how character has shaped important political decisions made during their regime. The authors profile 20 different leaders from across five continents, deriving shared personality traits and defining specific leadership styles based on characteristics and circumstances. The work begins by introducing the field of political psychology and explaining the theoretical framework used in studying the leadership personalities covered in the book. An analysis of leadership across the world considers several types of regimes: authoritarian leaders in non-democratic and democratic societies, authoritarian mixed types, flexible and pragmatic types, and those who combine flexibility with delegation. The text concludes by comparing leaders across time and location, discussing interaction between specific heads of state. Leaders profiled include Nelson Mandela, Kofi Annan, Saddam Hussein, Vaclav Havel, Angela Merkel, and Emperor Hirohito, among others."

Contributor Bio:  Krasno, Jean JAMES S. SUTTERLIN is Distinguished Fellow in United Nations Studies at Yale University and Adjunct Professor of Political Science at Long Island University.