ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews some of the salient literature, relevant to the construct malignant narcissism and other related personality descriptors that have been applied to personalities that occupy positions of destructive national leadership. The author pays tribute to the contributions that other clinicians have made to this important field before describing his conception of malignant narcissism. The reader will see that much of the author’s work is built upon the foundation other writers have laid. After describing his model of malignant narcissism, the author then identifies its most salient features or characteristics. In so doing, it is hoped that the reader will be better equipped to weigh the evidence presented in Chapter 2 comparing Putin’s behaviour to the most salient characteristics of the author’s conception of malignant narcissism.
