To What Extent are International Relations Constructed from an Individual Psychological Approach?
By challenging a constructivist state-centric tendency and focusing on values/ideas, this paper explores an analysis of the agent-structure argument throughout individual agents’ behaviour. Although foreign policy analysts such as Hermann and Hudson previously examined individual psychology, they have done so through generalised analytical categories that lacked methodological strength and did not engage with constructivism. This paper deciphers the genesis of the decisions made by leaders, with a view to managing foreign policy change. Examining the studies concerning individual psychology of personality traits and FPA, it dialogues between constructivism and psychology. By examining Gorbachev’s leadership in Soviet foreign policy, a psychologicalconstructivist assessment allowed the analysis of leaders and their personality traits through norms’ internalisation. Drawing on Whole Trait Theory (WTT), this paper approaches a method not yet applied in International Relations (IR). Thus, both the constructivist critique and the WTT appliance in an individual case innovatively takes Hermann and Hudson’s work further. The paper opens a new research field with detailed sets of worked-through methods, throwing light on Gorbachev and how his personality shaped global policy.
