Political leadership practices of United States ambassadors serving in developing nations

The purposes of this dissertation were: (1) to describe the political leadership practices of U.S. Ambassadors currently serving in developing nations; (2) to identify the current international social justice issues; and (3) to explore the impact, if any, these issues had on the ambassador's political leadership practices.; Data collection for this study occurred during two phases. Phase I involved a cross-sectional survey of 40 U.S. Ambassadors currently serving in developing nations. During Phase II, two participants were selected for 15minute telephone interviews.; Thirty ambassadors responded to the survey. The data indicated that the majority of respondents described their political leadership practices as meeting goals of individuals and groups, in addition to providing a vision. After analysis of the interview data which helped to enhance the survey data, the ambassador's political leadership practices were most closely aligned with transactional political leadership.; The data revealed that the respondents had little training or background in political leadership theory. Specifically, the respondent's political leadership practices were most influenced by individual leaders and past experiences rather than by knowledge of any political leadership theory.; Findings confirmed that respondents were familiar with the international social justice issues identified by Isbister (2001). In addition, the respondents identified counter-terrorism and transnational health issues as emerging international social justice issues. Finally, data revealed that most respondents are aware of international social justice issues and that these issues affected their political leadership practices.; The significance of this study is showing that U.S. Ambassadors serving in developing nations are political leaders and that their influence on foreign policy creation and implementation can be substantial. Shifting their political leadership paradigm from one of transactional to one of transformational may position them to both offer and meet the demands of a 21st century interdependent world.