Lincoln, Mandela, and qualities of reconciliation-oriented leadership.

Abstract

Analyses of policymaking on national reconciliation tend to highlight situational factors, whereas studies of how national leaders' personal characteristics may have influenced such policies are rare. Using biographical data, this article compares Lincoln's reconciliation-oriented leadership in the Civil War and Mandela's in the South African conflict, and considers how their personalities affected their promotion of intergroup reconciliation. From the cases, it induces qualities of reconciliation-oriented leaders that may merit further comparative analysis. It finds commonalities in the two leaders' capacities for emotional self-control, empathy and cognitive complexity, optimism about others' potential for change, and in their intellectual and professional training that are related to their propensities toward reconciliation.