Date of Award

1995

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Leadership Studies

Abstract

In 1625, more than twenty years prior to the ending of the Thirty Years War with the Treaty of Westphalia, Hugo Grotius wrote De Jure Belli-ac Pacis, outlining his solutions for a troubled world. While the details and particularities of his ideas may not be compatible with today's unsettled and transitory world, what he strove and quested for is as applicable today as it was at the beginning of the modem state system. At the time of Grotius, feudalism was being replaced by statist concerns, centering around territory and a dual centralization of domestic authority and military power. The transitory period of the early seventeenth century awashed itself in bloody wars between the defenders of the old and the provocateurs of systematic change. The Grotian Quest sought to establish a foundation of order by recognizing the realities of the emergent new order with its state emphasis but also retain the traditional heritage of Christian spirituality, morality, and legality. The nuances of the original Grotian solution - as opposed to the generalities of his quest - may not be the foundation upon what the present turmoil needs to root itself upon. In fact, the common Christian conscience upon which Grotius depended does not even exist in today's contemporary world.1 However, the Grotian Quest must be revived - some kind of systematic synthesis of the old framework of world order of intellectual thought combined with the changing realities of today's world must be developed. Intrigal to the development of a new framework for world order is the question of how the role of leaders and leadership styles in general will affect the successful completion of the quest. What types of leaders and what kind of leadership is needed to guide the world through the transition from old to new? To answer this question, the paper will analyze two prior periods of peace under the current Westphalian system and discuss the leadership exhibited during those times. Also, world order characteristics of those two periods which affected the leadership will be presented

Then, the United States wfli be offered as the wor]d's oniy realistic future leader, and the U.S.'s role in the world, and how the emerging trends and characteristics of the new world will affect this role, will be discussed. Finally, the type of leadership needed to complete the Grotian Quest, the Presidential Model, sums up the paper.

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