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Open Access CC BY-ND V4.0
Dissertation
Executive Personality and Advisory Stability in National Security Decision-Making: Security Council Turnover in Russia, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
2026
Abstract
This study examines the influence of individual leadership characteristics on staff turnover rates within the Security Councils of Russia, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan, focusing on the roles of need for power (PWR), cognitive complexity (CC), task focus (TASK), and policy experience (PE) in shaping advisory group dynamics in post-Soviet political systems. Through a structured comparative case study of Vladimir Putin, Ilham Aliyev, and Kassym-Jomart Tokayev—complemented by Spearman’s rank correlation, Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), Leadership Trait Analysis (LTA), and thematic analysis—the study finds that turnover patterns are associated with specific configurations of these traits. Higher levels of PWR and TASK are consistently associated with increased turnover, while higher CC and PE are associated with greater advisory group stability. The analysis shows that Tokayev’s relatively high turnover rate (1.17 cases/year) corresponds to elevated PWR and TASK and low CC and PE, in contrast to Aliyev’s moderate (0.23 cases/year) and Putin’s lower (0.19 cases/year) rates, underscoring the potential stabilizing role of experience and cognitive adaptability in highly centralized presidential systems. By linking individual leadership characteristics to turnover outcomes, this research addresses an important gap in the literature on leadership dynamics in post-Soviet states and contributes to a deeper understanding of governance and decision-making processes in centralized political systems. As a plausibility probe, the study offers preliminary insights rather than statistically generalizable estimates, laying the groundwork for future research with expanded samples. Overall, the findings provide analytically useful perspectives for scholars and policymakers interested in leadership dynamics and institutional stability within post-Soviet governance environments.
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Details
- Title
- Executive Personality and Advisory Stability in National Security Decision-Making: Security Council Turnover in Russia, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan
- Creators
- Abbas Mammadov
- Contributors
- Thomas Preston (Advisor)Anthony Lopez (Committee Member)Michael Goldsby (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Politics, Philosophy and Public Affairs, School of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 420
- Identifiers
- 99901394105801842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation