Chapter 4, “Leaders, Institutions, and Foreign Policy,” by Michael C. Horowitz
This chapter is one of the only undergraduate textbook essays on leaders in international conflict. It surveys all the critical elements connecting leadership to international relations, including how leaders come to power, the nature and origins of leaders’ beliefs, the impacts of leaders’ personal backgrounds, gender and leadership, ideology, how domestic political institutions do and do not constrain leaders, and others. The chapter includes a case study of the role of leadership in the outbreak of World War I, and a summary of a quantitative study on leadership and the spread of nuclear weapons.
Most appropriate for classes on war and politics and international relations theory.
Why this chapter is different:
●Only comprehensive, contemporary treatment of leadership and international relations on the market
●Integrated discussion of leaders and how political institutions shape (or do not shape) leaders’ prerogatives
●Unique case study of World War I and leadership
Dr. Michael C. Horowitz is Professor of Political Science and Associate Director of the Perry World House at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of several leading articles on leaders in international relations, as well as coauthor of Why Leaders Fight (Cambridge, 2015).