Ahmad Qavam's Political Life Study Based on Karen Horney's Theory of Social Psychoanalysis

Politicians' actions have always been studied from various perspectives, but analysis of their personality and their political life has been evaluated less widely using the theories discussed in the field of psychology. Ahmad Ghavam is one of the influential politicians in Iran's contemporary era, with different, even contradictory judgments about him and his political performance. Thus, the question of this research is that, considering Ahmad Ghavam's diverse political behaviors and attitudes, and the various viewpoints about his political life, how his political character and performance can be analyzed in political psychology framework? In this research, we tried to analyze Ahmad Ghavam's personality and political life using the concepts discussed in Karen Horney's theory of social psychology. The findings of this research show that the most important reason for the rise and fall of the "aggressive" and "domineering" personality of Qawam, is a result of his efforts to provide a "Ideal Self " of himself in order to restore his suppressed "psychological security" and his need for power for "self-reliance" on power. This research also shows that interdisciplinary approaches, and in particular the use of political psychology, which has been formed from the link between psychology and politics, can provide a new gateway to the analysis of character and political life of politicians, and enhance our knowledge in the psychological analysis of the actors of the world of politics