Narcissists Acting Out: Coercive Diplomacy, Dramatic Threats, and Fuzzy Signals

• In Event: The Impact of Decision-Maker Attributes on International Security

Abstract

When will democratically-elected leaders attempt to generate audience costs? During international crises, states can transmit costlier signals by issuing hand-tying public statements. Previous research has highlighted state-level mechanisms, and attributes endogenous to conflict, to explain when states issue statements of resolve. However, leaders issue these public statements. I argue that narcissistic leaders shy away from public statements of resolve. Narcissists emphasize personal gains rather than state-level bargaining leverage. Aggregate analysis of data from 1950-2008 support my claim that leader-level grandiose narcissism is negatively related to issuing public statements of resolve. Case review of the Great White Fleet and the 1969 Nuclear Alert are used to illustrate causal mechanisms.

Author

• John Patrick Harden, Dartmouth College