Personal leadership style and foreign policy decision making: the case of Saddam Hussein’s decision to attack Kuwait

Abstract

The problem of foreign policy constraints, especially as regards the process of decision making as such, has long been at the forefront of academic discussion, particularly in respect of exact factors that may determine the approaches followed by political leaders in that context. Personality tends to determine the way in which the respective actors respond to the decision-making alternatives available, as well as perceive the symbolic and social context in which they have to act. In authoritarian political regimes, the role of political leaders is likely to be characterised by a far higher degree of decision-making independence, due to their domestic societies being held in check by the apparatuses of state violence. Thus the case of Saddam Hussein’s decision to invade Kuwait in 1990 may be seen as an important case study in regard of the aforementioned. .