Political psychology

The aim of the research by the Political Communication Research Unit that focuses on political psychology, is to clarify the role of personality in politics, in order to make progoses on political and policy developments and leadership styles, and to discover personality patterns of charisma and persuasion; of winning elections and of succesful consensus building; of destructive and authoritarian leadership; and of succesful democratic leadership in crisis situations.

Examples are the study of the impact of personality during the most difficult Belgian federal government formation; at the EU policy level after the Lisboa treaty; on the leadership style and influence of the royals in The Netherlands; on the spread of Islamic fundamentalism in Iran, civil war in Syria, or national populism in Italy.