American Leadership Image and the Yugoslav Crisis

The author explains US foreign policy towards managing the dissolution of Yugoslavia and in particular the war in Bosnia and Hercegovina. In order to explain this evolution of US policy, this analysis establishes the compound concept of leadership image. It is a compound concept comprising three elements. The first of these is the self-image, which involves perceptions of leadership and formulates certain policy preferences; the second is the projected-image, which regards preferences pursued as policy positions; and finally, the alter’s-image, which entails the perception and expectations that other states have of the leader’s policies. This volume advocates that the latter is cardinal since it determines the legitimization of leadership. If the policies that are projected by the leader do not resemble with what the followers anticipate from the leader, then the exertion of leadership is obstructed thus generating doubts about the leader’s credibility and thus respect. In contemporary politics, the impulse to sustain this respect perhaps can drive more frequently the leader’s foreign policy decision making.