Political Leadership: The Psychology Behind the Leader

by Dawn Hunt

 

15 January 2007

 

Political leadership itself, demands many qualities and attributes,  all of which could be the integral part of one’s personality, background in early life, as well as experiences which shape a prospective leader’s world view and style.  This short essay will briefly highlight how the make up of a leader’s psychology is formed, thus directly affecting his/her leadership strengths or weaknesses and performance while in office.

 

James D. Barber provides some basic tools in the analysis of the development of psychological make up and its results.  Barber’s 4 narrowly defined categories of leader type, on the one hand provide a simplistic basis or explanation of a leader’s performance, yet on the other hand, critics point out that these 4 boxes are too simplistic, rigidly defined and give little leeway to the possibility that a leader could change or learn from their experiences.

 

The 4 categories of leadership type are:

 

Active-positive, which is when a leader carries out his/her duties with rationale, clear objective and confidence.

The active-positive leader is self assured, charismatic and a good communicator.

Some examples of an active-positive leader were Ronald Regan, Bill Clinton and John Kennedy.

 

The active-negative type, actively goes about their duties, yet much more recklessly; as if he/she is coming to terms with a lack of self confidence,  an overwhelming need to prove themselves, as they may have been insecure as a child.  Thus they often are aggressive, lack the ability to listen and work with others and ultimately seek excessive power and the need to dominate.

Some leaders that fit this description are Margaret Thatcher, George W. Bush and Woodrow Wilson.

 

The passive-positive character, actively seeks to please every one, needs approval and usually settles on compromise to avoid conflict.  These traits may stem from early childhood, as with Lyndon Johnson. 

Although this character type is engaging, this type of leader lacks the self confidence and sound motivation outlined in an active-positive leader.

 

Passive-negative – it could be questionable as to how this character type makes it into political leadership in the first place.

This is a description of some one with a low self esteem, low self image and no drive or charisma.  This type of leader goes through the motions of leadership with little enthusiasm and does what is right or necessary in the job.

Leaders of this type are Herbert Hoover and John Major.

 

It is important to remember that, these are narrowly defined boxes of character types and that, leaders are people and can possess more than one attribute or can be subject to circumstance or change.  For example, Lyndon Johnson initiated many positive domestic policies, such as giving the vote to black Americans, the war on poverty and a selfless civil rights campaign.  However, Johnson faced the unfortunate ruin to nearly everything he did, due to the inheritance of the Vietnam War, which was a lose-lose situation.

As this critical situation intensified and Johnson was caught between his advisers, the anti-war movement and his conscience; it is simply unfair and unjust to place him in a narrowly defined box as put forward by Barber.

 

By contrast, the description of Herbert Hoover is extremely fitting, given Hoover’s early life, which left an imprint on his presidency.  Due to Hoover’s Quaker background, which dictated self humility, oppression and a code of silence/reserve; it would answer the reason behind his dower demeanour in the White House.  As it is a Quaker teaching to implement thrift and self reliance, he unfortunately applied this directly to the way in which he dealt with the crisis of the depression.  Thus withholding vital relief money from thousands of hungry families and farmers who had gone bankrupt.

 

Perhaps a more flexible model put forward by Barber is the three stages of, character (developed in early life) world view (developed during adolescence), and style, which takes shape during one’s early political career.

 

This certainly gives leeway for explaining why for example, Woodrow Wilson took the path and adopted the behaviour he did while in office.  Barber highlights how in Wilson’s early life as a child, his domineering father, constantly reinforced feelings of inadequacy and the never-ending need to strive for bettering himself.  Thought control, self control and the overall grasping for intellectual excellence, were also common continuing features handed down by his parentage.   Consequently, by his adolescent years, Wilson endeavoured to research and formulate his own world view, which carried on into his days as a student.

 

Again, as with Hoover, Wilson’s footprint of self doubt and lack of self assuredness spilt over into his presidency, from his childhood.  He was forever on the path of persuasion, as barber points out and attempted everything with the tireless energy and rigor that his father had demanded of him.  However, these early childhood experiences had negative impacts on Wilson’s inability to listen to the dissent of others; as was the case with the ratification of the treaty of the League of Nations.  The upshot being that, had Wilson listened to the voices of dissent and reservation; thus adopting a more flexible approach to the issue, the U.S. might not have had to stand in isolation to face yet another world war, before the treaty was ratified.

 

In conclusion, certainly with democratic leaders, a sound balanced psychology to back any leader is essential.  As Richard Neustadt has quoted “a leader depends on his dependents and is subject to his subjects.”

 

However the reality is that, if a leader comes into power, his/her public or subordinates, act as a test to the psychological stamina/make up of that leader.  Whether a leader is strong, decisive, self assured and self motivated or, lacks self esteem, seeks approval or lacks the charisma expected in his/her role; or if there are varying strengths and weaknesses, as could be expected, then every attribute is scrutinised and plays an integral part on how the leader copes with the high demands and expectations of the job.        

 

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