Global Security and Intelligence Studies Volume 3, Number 1, Spring/Summer 2018 | Page 14

A Psychological and Political Analysis of a Twentieth Century “Doctator”
including neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness, openness to experience, and
conscientiousness, as well as personality disorders such as sadism, antisocial behavior,
schizophrenia, neuroticism, narcissism, and paranoia (Birt 1993; Coolidge,
Davis, and Segal 2007; Coolidge and Segal 2007, 2009). To date, many leaders have
been assessed using the psychobiographical research method including Woodrow
Wilson (George and George 1998; McDermott 2008), Indira Gandhi (Steinberg
2005); Hillary Clinton and Condoleezza Rice (Fitch and Marshall 2008); Ronald
Reagan (Glad 1989; Gilbert 2008); John F. Kennedy (McDermott 2008); and Richard
Nixon (McDermott 2008) to name a few.
Specific to political dictators, Victor’s (1998) psychobiography of Hitler was
carried out to better understand the pathway that led to his evil transformation.
Moving this work forward, Coolidge, Davis, and Segal (2007) further investigated
Hitler’s psychopathology, and later Hyland, Boduszek, and Kielkiewicz (2011) approached
Hitler from a psycho-historical perspective to gain great depth of knowledge
on his development and pathology. In an attempt to better assess the personality
of dictators, Coolidge and Segal (2007) would compare their findings of
Hitler to Saddam Hussein, and later to Kim Jung Il (Coolidge and Segal 2009); they
found that all shared the six personality disorders including sadistic, paranoid, anti-social,
narcissistic, schizoid, and schizotypal in varying degrees. Coolidge and
Segal’s (2007) work agrees with Post’s (2004) finding that Hussein was strongly
oriented toward paranoia, but the two somewhat disagree on whether Hussein
suffered from any psychotic disorders beyond malignant narcissism. Kim Jong Il
is further described as being emotionally volatile, unpredictable, without empathy,
and having a propensity toward malignant narcissism (Post 2004). Stalin, another
dictator, has also been assessed as having a paranoid personality disorder which
was thought to be a key component in his rise to power (Birt 1993; Stal 2003). As
will be seen in the psychobiography below, paranoia also plays a key factor in Duvalier’s
behavior.
The current body of knowledge on leadership psychology has substantiated
a clear link between personality and political outcomes. Additionally, the literature
demonstrates that there are some shared personality components among political
dictators. However, one subset of dictators that has been overlooked include
those individuals that, in addition to gaining political notoriety, were first known
for their medical expertise. These doctor-dictators represent a unique subgroup
that have not yet been fully assessed for clues that may explain their pathway to
violence. Within this psychobiography, we assess François Duvalier’s rise to power
by looking at how this individual transformed himself from a medical doctor, into
the President-for-Life of Haiti. Consistent with the psychobiographic method, we
examine Duvalier’s rise to power and leadership transformation. We also consider
Haiti’s brutal past, its leadership instabilities, and how this may have shaped or
influenced Duvalier’s behavior. We also review his development during his early
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