Leadership and influence in the United Nations: A comparative analysis of the Secretaries-General.

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This study examines how the leadership style of a Secretary-General of the United Nations affects the means that they employ to attempt to influence how threats to international peace and security are handled. In order to address this question, the dissertation undertakes an extensive review of previous work on the Secretary-General to determine both what leadership styles and influential behaviors should be examined. Three leadership styles, managerial, strategic and visionary, underpin the debate over the type of leadership that an office-holder might provide. Content analysis of press conferences established a score for each leadership style for all seven Secretaries-General who have thus far held the office.
The leadership styles are related to three categories of influential activities that are available to the Secretary-General: agenda setting, peaceful settlement of disputes, and United Nations intervention. For each of activity category, and the related sub-classifications, detailed behavioral expectations for each leadership style are established. The office-holders with the highest score for each leadership style, Dag Hammarskjold the visionary, Kurt Waldheim the manager and Kofi Annan the strategist, were selected for in-depth case studies. With minor variations, which could largely be explained when one took into account how their personal characteristics deviated from the ideal leadership style pattern, the ways that these office-holders handled international peace and security matched the behavioral predictions.
The dissertation research has clarified and added to the understanding of how leadership style helps to guide the political behavior of a Secretary-General of the United Nations in the area of international peace and security. In the process, the project has answered doubts regarding the possibility of measuring or demonstrating the importance of personal qualities for studying the Secretary-General. In addition, the effort to organize the diverse material previously written on the Secretary-General and the wealth of information provided in the case studies should be useful to others interested in the office. Beyond the information that this study provides on the Secretary-General, it is hoped that the work will also assist in fostering a dialogue between scholars interested in leadership across all forms of political organization.