Remembering Gorbachev

Since the middle of last century the so-called “rational actor” models in international and domestic affairs (von Rochau, 1853) supported the assumption that a political leader’s decision-making is logical and unaffected by psychological factors. In 1993 eight psychoanalytically oriented psychiatris...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American journal of psychoanalysis 2022-12, Vol.82 (4), p.503-511
Main Author: Volkan, Vamık D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Child
Clinical Psychology
Death
Decision making
Female
Humans
Leadership
Male
Personality
Political leadership
Psychoanalysis
Psychology
Psychotherapy
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Summary:Since the middle of last century the so-called “rational actor” models in international and domestic affairs (von Rochau, 1853) supported the assumption that a political leader’s decision-making is logical and unaffected by psychological factors. In 1993 eight psychoanalytically oriented psychiatrists formed a team to study political leaders’ personality characteristics and the psychodynamics of their decision-making processes. They met twice a year for five years and studied political leaders with obsessional, paranoid, schizoid, narcissistic and depressive personality organizations (Volkan, Akhtar, Dorn, Kafka, Kernberg, Olsson, Rogers, & Shanfield, 1998). Today academicians dealing with political issues are more aware that the personality of a political leader plays a crucial role in his or her attempts to maintain a stable relationship with his or her “followers” as well as in dealing with domestic and international issues. On February 2022, Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine. Vladimir Putin’s psychological issues in starting this invasion already have been examined through psychoanalytic angles (Ihanus, 2022; Volkan & Javakhishvili, 2022). On August 30, 2022, Mikhail Gorbachev died. A political leader with Gorbachev’s personality would not start a new war, a new horrifying event with brutality against civilians, children and innocent.
ISSN:0002-9548
1573-6741
DOI:10.1057/s11231-022-09375-6