Abstract
This chapter provides a selection of vignettes about inappropriate leadership behavior. It raises some useful questions: When it comes to IR, how much do the personal characteristics of leaders matter? How do personal relationships between leaders impact politics among states? In what circumstances do personal antagonisms between two leaders undercut the pursuit of the national interest?
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- 1.
Charles was such a boss emperor that he was known by different names in different parts of his empire. In Austria, he was Charles I. In Hungary, locals called him Charles IV. In Bohemia, he was Charles III. Not to be outdone, when the Roman Catholic Church made him a saint in 2004, they changed his name to Blessed Karl of Austria.
- 2.
Here, we should point out the existence of foreign policy analysis, a separate tradition in political science that shares basic topical interests with IR scholars (e.g. war, trade, diplomacy) but rejects the notion that states, leaders, and their behavior are driven by structural factors (e.g. international anarchy, the capitalist world system). As such, FPA scholars focus on domestic politics and the individual level in their analyses. While they are generally considered part of IR (at least by department chairs, deans, and undergraduates), FPA scholars tend to think of themselves as slightly askew of the normal IR scholar.
- 3.
A counterfactual is just some professional jargon used to describe imagining an alternate timeline where everything was the same except for one key variable. A hypothetical counterfactual exercise can be an effective way to assess the logic of an explanation.
- 4.
Of course, NATO is a mutual defense alliance, which benefits US security as well, and member states do not pay money to NATO.
- 5.
North Korea’s press agency responded by calling Trump a “mentally deranged U.S. dotard,” causing Americans to run to their dictionaries to learn exactly what a dotard was. Who thought that nuclear brinksmanship might be educational, too?
- 6.
This suggestion was stupid on its own merit and in any context. The original remark about a tenfold increase in nuclear weapons would violate treaties and create a new arms race. The following February, in perhaps a symbolic gesture to the president, the Pentagon announced that it would assess the possibility of increasing the US strategic nuclear stockpile.
- 7.
Maybe this says more about Putin than Trump. After all, George W. Bush once said of Putin that “I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straight forward and trustworthy and we had a very good dialogue. I was able to get a sense of his soul” (Perlez 2001).
- 8.
I should point out that this is the guiding principle behind Graham Allison’s Bureaucratic Politics Model, a classic explanation for how foreign policy is made at the highest levels of government. See Graham T. Allison and Philip Zelikow, Essence of Decision: Understanding the Cuban Missile Crisis, revised edition. New York: Longman, 1999.
- 9.
Note to self: Does the UK have a minister of dog catching?
- 10.
See “Awkward Obama Kisses: Aung San Suu Kyi, Hillary Clinton, and More,” The Daily Beast (November 19, 2012) at https://www.thedailybeast.com/awkward-obama-kisses-aung-san-suu-kyi-hillary-clinton-and-more-photos.
- 11.
Sharon was not the only leader obsessed with Rice. Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi creeped out a reporter from Al Jazeera when he asked about the senior American policymaker. “Yes! Leezza, Leezza, Leezza…I like her very much.” See Juli Weiner, “More Horrendously Creepy Details About Gaddafi’s Condoleezza Rice Obsession,” Vanity Fair (October 21, 2011), accessed on March 10, 2018 at https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2011/10/more-horrendously-creepy-details-about-qaddafis-condoleezza-rice. My favorite part is that rebel forces found Condi scrapbooks in Gaddafi’s private chambers after he was ousted.
References and Suggested Readings
Allison, Graham T., and Philip Zelikow. Essence of Decision: Understanding the Cuban Missile Crisis, revised edition. New York: Longman, 1999.
“Boris Johnson Libya ‘Dead Bodies’ Comment Provokes Anger,” British Broadcasting Corporation, October 4, 2017. Accessed on March 10, 2018 at http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-41490174.
Bush, George W. Decision Points. New York: Crown Publishers, 2010.
Chan, Sewell. “Last Night in Sweden? Trump’s Remark Baffles a Nation,” The New York Times, February 19, 2017. Accessed on March 10, 2018 at https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/19/world/europe/last-night-in-sweden-trumps-remark-baffles-a-nation.html.
Landler, Mark. “Trump’s Way: Trump, the Insurgent, Breaks with Seventy Years of American Foreign Policy,” The New York Times, December 28, 2017. Accessed on March 10, 2018 at https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/28/us/politics/trump-world-diplomacy.html.
Levy, Gabrielle. “Trump Relayed Highly Classified Intel to Lavrov, Kislyak,” US News and World Report, May 15, 2017. Accessed on March 10, 2018 at https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2017-05-15/report-donald-trump-revealed-classified-intel-to-russian-officials-in-white-house-visit.
Mearsheimer, John. Why Leaders Lie: The Truth About Lying in International Politics. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013.
Miller, Greg, Julie Vitkovskaya, and Reuben Fischer-Baum. “This Deal Will Make Me Look Terrible: Full Transcripts of Trump’s Calls with Mexico and Australia,” The Washington Post, August 3, 2017. Accessed on March 10, 2018 at https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/politics/australia-mexico-transcripts/?utm_term=.6d00888f5aa5.
Nakazawa, Katsuji. “Was the Korean Peninsula Part of China? Xi and the Han Dynasty Game Plan,” Nikkei Asian Review, August 18, 2017. Accessed on March 10, 2018 at https://asia.nikkei.com/Features/China-up-close/Was-Korean-Peninsula-part-of-China-Xi-and-the-Han-dynasty-game-plan.
Perlez, Jane. “Cordial Rivals: How Bush and Putin Became Friends,” The New York Times, June 18, 2001. Accessed March 10, 2018 at http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/18/world/cordial-rivals-how-bush-and-putin-became-friends.html.
Reuters Staff. “Germany Rejects Trump’s Claim It Owes NATO and US Vast Sums for Defense,” Reuters News Service, March 19, 2017. Accessed on March 10, 2018 at https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-germany-defence/germany-rejects-trumps-claim-it-owes-nato-and-u-s-vast-sums-for-defense-idUSKBN16Q0D8.
Stoessinger, John. Why Nations Go to War, 11th edition. New York: Wadsworth, 2010.
The Daily Beast. “Awkward Obama Kisses: Aung San Suu Kyi, Hillary Clinton, and More,” November 19, 2012 at https://www.thedailybeast.com/awkward-obama-kisses-aung-san-suu-kyi-hillary-clinton-and-more-photos.
Wall Street Journal. “President Trump’s WSJ Interview: Highlights,” April 12, 2017. Accessed on March 10, 2018 at http://www.wsj.com/podcasts/president-trump-wsj-interview-highlights/632F7842-135C-407A-AB30-6F6D7409F38B.html.
Weiner, Juli. “More Horrendously Creepy Details About Qaddafi’s Condoleezza Rice Obsession,” Vanity Fair, October 21, 2011. Accessed on March 10, 2018 at https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2011/10/more-horrendously-creepy-details-about-qaddafis-condoleezza-rice.
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Mislan, D.B., Streich, P. (2019). Stupid Things Our Leaders Say and Do. In: Weird IR. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75556-4_4
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