Global Security and Intelligence Studies Volume 3, Number 1, Spring/Summer 2018 | Page 29

Global Security and Intelligence Studies
genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity by a United
Nations tribunal ... for leading a campaign of terror against civilians
in the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II. ... In 1992, the
height of the ethnic cleansing campaign, close to 45,000 people were
killed or missing, almost half of the 100,000 who died in the Bosnian
war. ... Men and boys were held in concentration camps, where thousands
were tortured, were killed, or died of starvation, and women
were said to have been raped and used as sex slaves. (Simons 2016)
Papa Doc Duvalier, along with his Doctator-contemporaries Bashar Assad
and Radovan Koradzic, each skillfully manipulated their status as a physician into
authoritarian dictators who imposed a harsh citizen domination coupled with extreme
loss of life. There are further examples of international physician politicians
who were instrumental in transforming their nation’s political landscape, all of
which provide further insight into this subset of political dictators, including Dr.
Hastings Banda, President of Malawi, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, founder of the Republic of
China, Dr. Che Guevara, Latin American revolutionary leader, Dr. Agostino Neto,
former President of Angola, Dr. Salvador Allende, former President of Chile, and
Dr. George Habash, founder of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
(Lass et al. 2012). All of these cases are deserving further exploration to better determine
how this subset of individuals may be unique.
In an unanticipated turn of political events, Haiti once again has a political
leader who is a physician. Dr. Jack Guy Lafontant, a gastroenterologist and member
of the American College of Physicians, was appointed Prime Minister of Haiti
on March 20, 2017. Prime Minister Lafontant had no known political experience
or knowledge of the political administration prior to his appointment (Charles
2017a). Upon the new government’s swearing in, Prime Minister Lafontant noted
the following: “The hour is grave, and the legacy is heavy” (Charles 2017b, n.p.).
Although these remarks were delivered in the context of current political and economic
challenges, they also serve as recognition of the potential political power
and influence a physician Prime Minister can exercise.
References
Abbott, Elizabeth. 1988. Haiti: An Insider’s History of the Rise and Fall of the Duvaliers.
New York, NY: Touchstone.
Barber, James D. 1965. The Lawmakers: Recruitment and Adaptation to Legislative
Life. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Barber, James D. 1972. Presidential Character: Predicting Performance in the White
House. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.
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