Political Suitability in an Authoritarian Regime: A Comparison of the Personality Profiles of Vladimir Putin and Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny

Abstract

Studies in political psychology have linked the personality characteristics of leaders to political success, specifically regarding electoral results and leadership effectiveness in democracies. This article expands this literature by exploring the relationship between personality and political career in an electoral authoritarian regime. This research focuses on the psychological profiles of the Russian president Vladimir Putin and Alexei Navalny– one of his most prominent critics. We compare the personalities of two political rivals with unequal access to the political arena, employing at-a-distance assessment. Why is then the case that Putin seems to fear the rise of Navalny more than the communist party contestants, after all? The results indicate that if not for the regime restrictions, Navalny’s personality profile and leadership style would be instrumental for his political career. The findings emphasize the need to differentiate between distinctive environment attributes (context of marginalized opposition and ruling elite) within the general context of an authoritarian regime when studying the value of certain personality patterns for leadership emergence.