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Authoritarian personality and foreign policy

1957; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 1; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1177/002200275700100105

2328-174X

Daniel J. Levinson,

Leadership, Human Resources, Global Affairs

Attempts to understand the foreign pol? icy of particular nations or the course of international relations generally have traditionally been guided almost entirely by historical-sociological points of view. The chief foci of analysis have been in the realms of power politics, geopolitics, national econom? ic interests, and the like. Recently, we have seen a growing interest in the role of psychological factors in international relations (3, 11, 12). This interest stems in part from the recognition of irrationality in foreignpolicy viewpoints. However, it would seem overly narrow to limit our psychological con? cern to the problem of irrationality. The thesis of this paper is that every foreign-policy orientation, whatever its degree of rationality and constructiveness, has, to an appreciable extent, a psychological foundation in the personalities of its adherents. This is not to say that foreign policy is purely an individual matter or merely a reflection of intra-personal dynamics. I would argue, rather, for the development of a sociopsychological approach, one that gives due recognition to individual (and modal) personality while yet taking account of broad? er social forces.