Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introducing the Conceptual Framework
- 2 Yitzhak Shamir: Once a Hawk, Always a Hawk
- 3 Benjamin Netanyahu: Battling the World
- 4 Ariel Sharon: From Warfare to Withdrawal
- 5 Yitzhak Rabin: From Hawk to Nobel Prize Peacemaker
- 6 Ehud Barak: All or Nothing
- 7 Shimon Peres: From Dimona to Oslo
- 8 The Psychology of Political Conversion
- Appendix A Summary of Key Factors and Findings
- Appendix B Interviews Conducted by the Author
- Bibliography
- Index
- References
8 - The Psychology of Political Conversion
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2014
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introducing the Conceptual Framework
- 2 Yitzhak Shamir: Once a Hawk, Always a Hawk
- 3 Benjamin Netanyahu: Battling the World
- 4 Ariel Sharon: From Warfare to Withdrawal
- 5 Yitzhak Rabin: From Hawk to Nobel Prize Peacemaker
- 6 Ehud Barak: All or Nothing
- 7 Shimon Peres: From Dimona to Oslo
- 8 The Psychology of Political Conversion
- Appendix A Summary of Key Factors and Findings
- Appendix B Interviews Conducted by the Author
- Bibliography
- Index
- References
Summary
[Yitzhak Rabin] was shaking the hand of a man he said he would never dignify with direct contact . . . I imagine he was thinking, “The whole world has heard me say never, and now I am.”
– Leah Rabin, describing Yitzhak Rabin’s handshake with Yasser Arafat at the signing of the Oslo Peace Accord, Sept. 13, 1993.Dramatic changes in the world are often initiated or obstructed by political leaders. The past half century has witnessed Richard Nixon’s transformation from a hard-line anti-communist to the first U.S. president to visit China, Jimmy Carter’s conversion from a lamb to a lion in regard to the Soviet Union, Ronald Reagan’s switch from characterizing the Soviet Union as “the evil empire” to embracing Mikhail Gorbachev, and Gorbachev’s own dramatic initiatives transforming Soviet foreign policy and ending the Cold War. An individual leader’s personality and preoccupations have become even more central, as witnessed by the importance attributed to assessing leaders in the WikiLeaks scandal. George W. Bush ousted Saddam Hussein, and would not deal with Yasser Arafat; Barack Obama eliminated Osama Bin Laden and hopes to conclude a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority; and NATO bombings helped the rebels overthrow Muammar al-Qaddafi’s forces and kill Qaddafi in order to take power in Libya. During uprisings in the Middle East in December 2010–2014, President Obama carefully weighed which leaders merited continued support and could adapt to popular demands, and which needed to leave office. The ultimate question facing a president, or any political leader, is, given a desired foreign policy transformation, what types of leaders are more likely to change, and who actually needs to be replaced?
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- The Political Psychology of Israeli Prime MinistersWhen Hard-Liners Opt for Peace, pp. 173 - 194Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014
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