ABSTRACT
The role of individuals and the concept of individual agency is one of the most problematic and contentious areas in the study of global politics. A number of key questions immediately come to mind: Do individuals make a difference? If so, under what circumstances and, importantly, how do we quantify the impact of individuals on the global, domestic or local stage? How do international relations theories view the role of the individual? This chapter will address these questions and provide background information to understand and appreciate contending arguments and perspectives on the relationship between the individual and the nation-state. To assist in this process, dilemma boxes, which highlight key debates and issues, are dispersed throughout the chapter. For example, dilemmas such United States Presidential Executive Orders on assassination of foreign leaders and the impact of controversial Latin American figures Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez in international affairs have been included. As well, a series of tables have been added to clarify and highlight the foreign policy decision-making process.
Students will gain insight into the role the environment and type of government play in determining the level and extent of influence possible by an individual. The chapter also offers examples of transformational individuals with very different backgrounds and the making of foreign policy in the post-1945 period. Accordingly, the role of leader and the decision-making process will be assessed and crucially the type of government and impact on the role of individuals and the decision-making process will be analysed. Key models explaining foreign policy decision-making such as the Rational Actor, Bureaucratic and Cognitive models are discussed. Finally, an assessment on how international relation theories used in this textbook view the individual agency will be provided. It will be argued that realist, liberalists and constructivists have contending views on the role of the individual and that critical approaches (which tend to be outside the mainstream view) tend to be more supportive of individual agency.
