Scripting Middle East Leaders: The Impact of Leadership Perceptions on U.S. and UK Foreign Policy

Both the US and the UK seemed caught off-guard by the uprisings in Libya and Egypt and policymakers had to deal with leaders that switched from being allies to ＂pariahs.＂

This collection of essays, written by leading scholars, examines the evolution of British and American perceptions of ＂adversaries＂ in the Middle East since the Cold War. It traces the evolution of how leaders have been perceived, what determined such perceptions, and how they can change over time. It shows that in many cases the beliefs held by policymakers have influenced their policies and the way they adapted during crisis.

Each essay focuses on a Middle East leader, such as Nasser, Assad, Hussein, or Ahmadinejad, discussing what these leaders’ objectives were perceived to be, the assessments of their willingness to take risks or negotiate, and how such assessments changed overtime and were evaluated in retrospect.

This groundbreaking contribution to the literature on leadership attitudes and perceptions in policymaking toward the Middle East will appeal to anyone studying foreign policy, Middle East politics and political psychology.

Jeffrey Michaels is Research Associate in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London. Prior to this, he served as a Lecturer with the Air Power Studies Division of the Defence Studies Department. As an intelligence officer attached to the US European Command and the Pentagon’s Joint Staff, he consulted for the Office of Net Assessment, Office of the Secretary of Defense, and worked on the staff of the NATO School in Oberammergau, Germany.Lawrence Freedman is Vice-Principal and Professor of War Studies at King’s College London. He has held research appointments at Nuffield College Oxford, IISS, and the Royal Institute of International Affairs. Elected a Fellow of the British Academy, he was awarded the CBE and the KCMG (Knight Commander of St Michael and St George). In 2009, he served as a member of the official inquiry into Britain and the 2003 Iraq War.