This seminar is offered for POL, IP and IRO students and will take place in THE HAGUE
Admission requirements
Participation in the seminar is only permitted if the propaedeutic phase has been passed (60 EC).
Description
What is the role of political leaders in international relations? Studies in IR generally focus on interactions between states on the state and/or systemic level and ignore the possible influence of the individual level of the leaders. The potential influence of leaders is not per se ignored, no one would argue for example that WWII would have been different if it was not for Hitler, Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin, but the systematic study of leaders is often not incorporated into the structure-based theories of IR. Or, closer to our time, what is the impact of President Trump on global politics?
There are, however, many intriguing questions that can be investigated when we study the relations between states from a political psychological perspective. Do different leadership styles lead to different foreign policy decision making? What is the impact of the images and beliefs leaders hold about ‘the enemy’? How do individual differences of leaders affect foreign policy decision making? Does it matter that many political leaders are often quite old when they come to power for their decision making? What happens when a leader ignores institutional arrangements (or even the constitution)?
This seminar introduces you to a selection of political psychological theories that can be applied to study the role political leaders play in international relations and use a political psychological approach. The focus of this course lies specifically on studying leadership, which is not the same as studying to become a leader. It will be helpful if you understand how to read and interpret studies with a quantitative methodology.
Content
During the seminars, we will discuss the literature and its insights together in the group. Based on these insights, every student will work together in a group to build a profile of a political leader of choice. Together you’ll collect data and analyze this data to build a portfolio for this profile. During our meetings, you’ll present about your work and your leader. Every student wraps the course up with an individual assignment, which will be based on the work done on the leader of choice but now related to an individual assignment.
Objectives
Objective 1: Students will learn to think,and reflect upon:
The role of actors within international relations and foreign policy
How political mechanisms can impact all human decision making processes, including our own
Political psychological approaches to study leaders
Objective 2: Students will acquire the following skills:
Appraise the strengths and limitations of political psychological approaches to IR and foreign policy.
Based on evidence and theories discussed in class, present and evaluate different scenarios on how actor-centric approaches relate to the study of IR and foreign policy
Learn to apply the concepts and theories to empirical cases
Method of instruction
Class discussion, group work,student presentations, and digital learning environment.
Study Material
Journal articles and book chapters, all accessible via the library of Leiden University. The literature list will be made available via Brightspace at least two weeks before the start of the course.
Assessment Method
Your final grade is based on:
Participation 15%
Presentation 15%
Group assignments 40%
Final assignment 30%
Registration
See 'Practical Information'.
Timetable
See 'MyTimetable'