Politics: Who Gets What, When, How, which was first published in 1936, is the classic analysis of power and manipulation by ruling elites and counter-elites. The themes that occur throughout this essay have become the guideposts for most modern research in techniques of propaganda and political organization. “It is unquestionably one of the most influential treatments of politics published in this century.”—David B. Truman, Prof.of Public Law and Government, Columbia University “This book is a landmark of modern political science.”—Daniel Lerner, Professor of Sociology, M.I.T. “For over three decades the students of politics have had their intellectual horizons constantly broadened by Harold Lasswell. There is probably no man in American political science who has brought to bear as many new approaches to the analysis of political behaviour as he has. There is perhaps no better way to get the essence of Lasswell’s thought than in his book, Politics: Who Gets What, When, How.”—Seymour Martin Lipset, Department of Sociology, U.C. Berkeley
Harold Lasswell is one of America's most distinguished political scientists, a man whose work has had enormous impact both in the United States and abroad upon not only his own field but also those of sociology, psychology and psychiatry, economics, law, anthropology, and communications. This collection of essays is the first full-scale effort to deal with the voluminous writings of Lasswell and explore his at once charming and baffling personality which is perhaps inseparable from the inventiveness, unconventionality, and unusual scope of his work. The authors of these essays, many of whom are former students or collaborators, view their subject from a variety of perspectives. What emerges is a full assessment of Lasswell's many-faceted contribution to the social scholarship of his time.
This book concerns the wanting, getting, and giving ofpower. Recent advances in medicine, sociology, and psychologyhave deepened our understanding of the motives,skills, and experience that operate between leaders andthose who are led. Since power is about decision-making,it figures not only in offi cial institutions but in otherorganizations, including political parties, pressure groups,trade associations, business enterprises, trade unions, andmany other types of organizations. A general theory of the political personality is set forthhere. Lasswell describes the process by which power becomesa value of fi rst importance and the way appropriateskills in exercising power are acquired. He shows thatspecial political types such as agitators or administratorsare related to basic types of character that contribute tohow they lead. Finally, his analysis off ers original perspectivesto understand democratic leadership. Lasswell offers definite suggestions for perfecting"self-observatories" in national and world affairs and forforming democratic personalities, selecting and trainingdemocratic leaders, and reducing destructive conflicts inhuman relationships. Power and Personality followed theauthor's 1930 work Psychopathology and Politics, whichwas widely hailed for its pioneering approach. Power andPersonality reevaluated the entire issue of the relationshipbetween psychology and politics in the light of subsequentexperience and scientifi c developments since publicationof that earlier work. Lasswell's ideas continue to carrygreat weight and persuasiveness. Harold D. Lasswell served as FordFoundation Professor of the Social Sciencesat Yale University, DistinguishedProfessor of Policy Sciences at John JayCollege of the City University of NewYork, and as professor of political scienceat the University of Chicago. He was apast president of the American PoliticalScience Association and author of manybooks covering the full range of political and policy research. Peter deLeon is director of the doctorate program and professorat the School of Public Aff airs, University of Colorado, Denver.In 2000 he received the distinguished Harold D. Lasswell Awardfrom the Policy Studies Organization. He is the author ofThinking about Political Corruption, Democracy and the PolicySciences, and Advice and Consent.
First published in 1930, this classic study of personality types remains vital for the understanding of contemporary public figures. Lasswell's pioneering application of the concepts of clinical psychology to the understanding of powerbrokers in politics, business, and even the church offers insights into the careers of leaders as diverse as Adolf Hitler and Richard Nixon.
Jurisprudence For a Free Society" is a remarkable contribution to legal theory. In its comprehensiveness and systematic elaboration, it stands among the major theories. It is also the most important jurisprudential statement to emerge in the post-war period. The pioneering work of Lasswell and McDougal on law and policy is already legendary. Most of the work produced by these scholars together and in collaboration with their students represent applications of their basic theory to a wide assortment of international and national legal and policy problems. Now, for the first time, the authoritative statement of their legal philosophy appears as a single volume. In Part I the authors develop their fundamental criteria for a theory about law, including the requirements of clarifying observational standpoint, focus of inquiry and the pertinent intellectual tasks incumbent on the scholar and decisionmaker for determining and achieving common interests. Trends in theories about law, including Natural Law, the Historical School, Positivism, the Sociological Study of Law, American Legal Realism and other contemporary theories, are explored for what they might contribute to the achievement to the authors' conception of an adequate jurisprudence. In Part II, the social process as a whole and the particular value-institutional processes that comprise it are described and analyzed. Because people establish, maintain and change institutions, the dynamics of personality and personality's relation to law is delineated. Part III explores the intellectual tasks of policy thinking, from clarification of values, through description of trend, the scientific examination of conditions, projection of futuredevelopments and the invention of alternatives. Part IV examines the structure of decision in a free society, a society in which the achievement of human dignity is confirmed in both word and deed. Six appendices bring together monographs by the authors over a period of forty years which deal, in more detail, with particular matters treated in the body of the book.
First published in 1930, this classic study of personality types remains vital for the understanding of contemporary public figures. Lasswell's pioneering application of the concepts of clinical psychology to the understanding of powerbrokers in politics, business, and even the church offers insights into the careers of leaders as diverse as Adolf Hitler and Richard Nixon.
Lasswell introduced the developmental construct of the garrison state as an antithesis of the civilian state more than fifty years ago, suggesting it would evolve from the industrial state in response to technical achievement. His original thoughts on the garrison state construct remain applicable today. This important volume brings together four major essays written by Lasswell.
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