181V
ladimir Putin continues to fascinate and confound students of international
politics, as have Germany’s Adolf Hitler, Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, Cuba’s Fidel
Castro, Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, and the Kims of North Korea, among
others. Biographies abound detailing these leaders’ childhoods, formative po liti cal
experiences, personality characteristics, and idiosyncrasies. Will such probing help
us explain the policies these people pursued? Or is the emphasis on one individual
leader only a shortcut attempt to explain complex events? Are agents of the state
acting in the national interest? Can individuals who do not hold official positions
make a difference in international politics? Can individuals play a significant enough
role that they should be considered as a third level of analy sis, along with the state
and international system?
Recall the pos si ble explanations given in Chapter 3 for the United States’ inva-
sion of Iraq in 2003. One explanation pointed to the beliefs of President George W.
Bush and his security advisers and to their response to Saddam Hussein, Hussein’s
personal characteristics, and his advisers. Clearly, one group of individuals that
makes a difference to international relations is the group of leaders. But individuals
holding more informal roles can also have a significant influence on internationalThe IndIvIdual