Three interrelated objectives provide the subject of this study: to cover a wide range of topics on leaders and leadership; to present up-to-date treatments of those topics; and to offer extensive bibliographies for further study and research. The opening chapter defines leadership. Subsequent chapters treat the relationship between leaders and followers and the prerequisite skills of leaders; transforming leaders, transactional leaders, and military leaders; the motivations of leaders; the functions of leaders; comparative studies of leaders; women as leaders; and research frontiers in...

Having established a persuasive conception of leadership, Rejai and Phillips apply it to major thinkers from Plato to Sigmund Freud and Erik Erikson. They find a major shift in leadership theory associated with World War II. Prewar theories are seen as limited and defective in that they posit a vision on the part of the leader and his ability to impose that vision on the followers; postwar theories stress, in addition, a shared vision and leader-follower interaction.

A leader's view of leadership, Rejai and Phillips find, is constrained by the person's conception of human nature; the...

What motivates political leaders to seek office? What social backgrounds do political leaders exhibit? Are all leaders fundamentally alike or do we find important differences between them? These and related questions concerning political leadership are examined in this unique new work. The authors concentrate on two principal types of political leaders: Loyalists, those who seek office through peaceful processes, whether appointive or elective; and Revolutionaries, those who seize power in violent ways. By systematically comparing the similarities and differences between these two groups,...

This study seeks to resolve differences between various types of political leaders and to link broad historical patterns with the idiosyncratic circumstances of individual lives and careers--to integrate the micro and the macro levels of understanding in the field of leadership studies. To accomplish this task, a vast array of previous scholarship and primary documents has been assembled and drawn into new combinations. Equivalent data on all U.S. presidents enable an unprecedented internal comparison within this select group. Comparison with parallel data, developed for other types of...

Focusing on 45 military leaders from four continents and 13 countries, spread across four centuries, this study paints, for the first time, a collective, comparative portrait of high-ranking military officers. The authors develop an interactional theory of military leaders, stressing the interplay between sociodemographic variables, psychological dynamics, and situational factors. They examine age and birthplace, socioeconomic status, family life, ethnicity and religion, education and occupation, activities and experiences, and ideologies and attitudes. They find military leaders to be a...