Foreign Policy Leadership Comparison of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Abstract

This paper compares and contrasts the effectiveness and ethics of the foreign policy leadership of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945) and Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938). The two men had transformed their countries in a myriad of areas. The change they brought for their nations could not be analyzed completely without studying their foreign policies. While analyzing foreign policies, the paper makes references to the domestic agenda as well. In particular the transformation in Turkish foreign policy could only be comprehended with the national struggle and the Revolution. The paper attempts to figure out the transformational leadership of bot statesmen. It explores the effectiveness of their foreign policies through anet hical dimension. Roosevelt and Atatürk's decisions and the implementation of these decisions are analyzed based on Joseph Nye's framework of Objectives/Means/Outcomes (Nye 2006: 164). Both leaders emerge as transformational leaders who created great change in their countries. Even though Roosevelt eventually transformed the United States foreign policy, there have been shortcomings in the effectiveness and ethics of his initiative taking. Atatürk, whose foreign policy was bound to strict principles, is probably one of those few leaders in history who managed to pursue effective policies without leaving ethics aside.