Prozac leadership and the limits of positive thinking

From Leadership

Positivity is now so embedded, ubiquitous and taken for granted in popular Western cultures that it is rarely questioned in theory or practice. Positive narratives in leadership can be transformational, facilitating innovation and enhancing teamwork. This article critically examines excessive positivity in leadership. Drawing on the metaphor of ‘Prozac’, Prozac leadership encourages leaders to believe their own narratives that everything is going well and discourages followers from raising problems or admitting mistakes. Prozac is used to denote and symbolize a widespread social addiction to excessive positivity. Problems can occur, particularly if this positivity is seen to be discrepant with everyday experience. For example, if leaders repeatedly promise that ‘things can only get better’ but over time this does not happen, followers can become increasingly sceptical and cynical. This article warns that Prozac leadership, whether in corporate, political or other settings, can damage performance by eroding trust, communication, learning and preparedness.

Protest and politics at the Olympics

Not just the Games? Power, protest and politics at the Olympics

From European Journal of International Relations

This is another in our series of articles highlighting various aspects of Olympic Games to celebrate the countdown to 2012. The Olympic Games represent the largest regularly scheduled international gathering in the world. They serve as a natural venue where multiple and different levels of society can interact. The Games are an under-explored event in the study of international politics and represent one of the longest standing forums for global interaction that has evolved along with the international political environment. This article asks a series of related questions regarding the intersection of political protest and the Olympic Games and conducts a theoretical and empirical analysis of political protest activity surrounding the modern Olympic Games. The study recognizes that the Olympic games are so much more than a sporting event, but an important political, social, economic, and cultural phenomenon.

At the crossroads of past and present — ‘contemporary’ history and the historical discipline

Special Issue

From Journal of Contemporary history

More than forty years ago, this journal was created with a distinctive mission: to study and discuss Europe’s recent past, even if this stirred up controversy in contemporary political debates. This special issue charts the debate of what qualifies as contemporary, and recognizes through the internet, strong transnational identifications and communities exist alongside national and regional identities. In the twenty-first century the challenge for contemporary historians lies in analysing power, community and culture, in state and locality in an inherently transnational, globalized context.

Breaking rules makes you seem powerful

Breaking the rules to rise to power: how norm violators gain power in the eyes of others

From Social Psychological and Personality Science 

When people have power, they act the part. Powerful people smile less, interrupt others, and speak in a louder voice. When people do not respect the basic rules of social behavior, they lead others to believe that they have power. People with power have a very different experience of the world than people without it.

In this study a group who had read stories, watched a video and some who had experienced a constructed scenario in the lab, were observed by researchers to identify the reactions to rule followers and rule breakers. “Norm violators are perceived as having the capacity to act as they please” write the researchers. Power may be corrupting, but showing the outward signs of corruption makes people think you’re powerful.

Bin Laden killing sparks suspicion over Al-Qaeda and Pakistan allegiance, is it time to review the goals and achievements of US military aid to the country?

Transnational terrorism and the US military arid to Pakistan, and the incentive to misrepresent

From Journal of Peace Research

The killing of Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan this week has generated large suspicion regarding the country’s possible allegiance with Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Is US military aid to Pakistan to disarm Al-Qaeda failing?

Shortly after the Obama Administration assumed office in 2008, the Interagency Policy Group recommended an increase in military aid to the Pakistan government to bolster its fight against militant groups. The goal of the aid was to give the government the tools it needed to disarm Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters that were responsible for continuing attacks in Afghanistan. This policy follows alarger consensus that military aid to host states from which transnational terrorists operates is a valuable tool.

This study reveals that military aid does not give host states incentive to accelerate the demise of terrorist groups, as in such a case the aid would stop. It is recognized that military aid is instead effective at preventing host states from negotiating with terrorist organizations and therefore supports the status quo to keep terrorist groups out of power.