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Leadership in Perspective: A Comment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 May 2009

Robert W. Cox
Robert W. Cox
Affiliation:
Robert W. Cox is a professor of political science at Columbia University and research associate of the Institute of War and Peace studies at Columbia University.
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Extract

Messrs. Laitin and Lustick make a useful advance in conceptualizing the components of leadership skill. It is quite obvious that such a venerable but often ill-conceived topic cannot be exhausted, even conceptually, within the space of a short article. I should like here to make three qualifying remarks, which are intended not to detract from the advance made by the two authors but to situate their contribution within a somewhat wider perspective. These remarks are directed toward the impact or consequences of leadership. They concern: (1) the relationship of leadership skill to leadership effectiveness; (2) pathological leadership, producing negative outcomes; and (3) the Tolstoyan question about the extent to which “A king is the slave of history,” i.e., whether political leadership does have room for maneuver and can significantly affect outcomes.

Type
Comments and Current Views
Information
International Organization , Volume 28 , Issue 1 , Winter 1974 , pp. 141 - 144
Copyright
Copyright © The IO Foundation 1974

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References

1 “The higher a man stands on the social scale, the more connections he has with others and the more power he has over them, the more conspicuous is the predestination and inevitability of every act he commits.” Tolstoy, Leo N., War and Peace, trans. Edmonds, Rosemary (Penguin paperback edition in two volumes), Vol. 2, p. 718 (beginning of Book Three).Google Scholar

2 Goubert, Pierre, Louis XIV et vingt millions de Français (Paris: Fayard, 1966).Google Scholar