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Overview"""No, no one against us. Against me, for what? - They love me, all my people with me, they love me all. They will die to protect me, my people."" Ghaddafi, February 27, in an interview with Christian Amanpour, ABC News. Are dictators mad, or are they smart people who don't know when to quit? Do dictators know that their people hate them, or do they have a mixture of narcissistic, paranoid, delusional, hysterical and sociopathic personality disorders? The author of Madmen at the Helm tries to answer these questions. The Arab Spring was a watershed in Arab history, which gave young protesters the impetus to challenge established and entrenched dictatorial regimes for the first time, and to demand democracy. In this unique book, Muriel Mirak-Weissbach reviews specialist literature and provides a profile of a mixture of personality disorders - narcissism, paranoia, hysteria and sociopathy - displayed by five Middle Eastern leaders (Mubarak, Qaddafi, Ben Ali, Saleh and Assad). She argues that the responses of these leaders to the challenges they faced indicate that they were psychologically incapable of facing reality, and indeed displayed pathological symptoms in clinging fanatically to power in the face of revolt. Mirak-Weissbach considers each of the five leaders in turn, examining their behavior during the upheavals as expressed in their public statements, speeches, interviews and courses of action. Thus she identifies patterns and similarities of behavior that serve to prove that the five 'stony-faced old men in power' displayed specific pathological personality types in their responses to the political and cultural circumstances in which they were operating. A postscript to the book widens this context by identifying two cases of narcissism in contemporary American politics: George W. Bush and Sarah Palin. This highly topical, accessible and relevant book provides a psycho-historical insight into the actions and responses of the deposed dictators, viewed from a unique clinical psychological perspective." Full Product DetailsAuthor: Muriel Mirak-WeissbachPublisher: Garnet Publishing Imprint: Garnet Publishing Dimensions: Width: 15.60cm , Height: 1.10cm , Length: 23.40cm Weight: 0.304kg ISBN: 9781859643358ISBN 10: 1859643353 Pages: 256 Publication Date: 01 April 2013 Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly , Professional & Vocational Format: Paperback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: In Print  This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us. Table of ContentsReviewsOne of the unfortunate realities is that at one time or another the United States of America has allied itself with dictators. This is especially true of the nations comprising the Middle East. That's one reason why Madmen at the Helm: Pathology and Politics in the Arab Spring is a particularly informed and informative book that deserves the widest possible readership in this country. Author and political journalist Muriel Mirak-Weissbach's 164 page compendium profiles key political leaders whose once iron-clad control of their respective countries finally lost their control (and sometimes their lives) in response to the revolt of their citizenry in what has been popularly termed the 'Arab Spring'. Also available in hard cover ($37.56) and Kindle ($8.99) editions, Madmen at the Helm: Pathology and Politics in the Arab Spring is insightful, astute, observant, and impressively knowledgeable, and should be considered mandatory reading for anyone seeking to understand the mind-sets of the leaders of these Middle Eastern countries whose sudden downfall was completely unexpected by most western observers in such places as the American state department and oil company headquarters. Author InformationMuriel Mirak-Weissbach is an Armenian-American who grew up in New England. She has been a political journalist specialising in economic, political and cultural development in the Arab and Islamic world for thirty years. In late 2009, she published a book in Germany, entitled Through the Wall of Fire, Armenia - Iraq - Palestine: From Wrath to Reconciliation, (edition Fischer), which is a reflection on her family history and how that shaped her humanitarian and political work in Iraq and Palestine. The English edition is to be published by Ithaca Press in 2012. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
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