Dissertation
 
Truman and the 1948 Berlin Blockade
 
 
Kennedy and the Berlin Wall Crisis
 
 
Carter and the Iran Hostage Crisis
 
 
 
Abstract: Scholars of international relations have long recognized that leaders’ risk-taking propensities play a key role in inter-state conflict, yet few studies focus on causal factors that are leader-specific. My dissertation builds upon extant research in political psychology, behavioral economics, and conflict studies and asks: Why do some leaders take risks, while others do not? Drawing upon the latest research in trait psychology, this dissertation employs an objective measure of risk propensity based on individual leaders’ personality traits. While common knowledge suggests that some leaders are riskier than others, and that leaders’ personalities influence international relations, my dissertation empirically examines this claim through quantitative analyses of U.S. Presidents’ decisions to initiate and escalate international conflict, and qualitatively through three case studies of U.S. Presidents’ decision-making during foreign policy crises: Truman and the Berlin Blockade; Kennedy and the building of the Berlin Wall; and Carter and the Iran Hostage Crisis. Committee: Dan Reiter (Chair), Kyle Beardsley, David Davis, Marshall Duke (Emory Dept. of Psychology) Expected Completion: Spring 2009.
Who Ups the Ante in International Relations?
Personality Traits and Risky Foreign Policy