Date of Award

Winter 12-9-2024

Degree Type

Honors Thesis

Major

International Studies

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

International Studies

First Advisor

Briand Dowd-Uribe

Abstract

Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro, the authoritarian socialist regime leaders in Venezuela, are known for their social programs and their stance against the U.S., but only Maduro cut off diplomatic relations with the U.S., one of the most significant FP decisions of his administration. This research examines the role that the personalities of these leaders may have played in explaining their distinct FP towards the U.S. Personality helps find traits that shift a leader’s behavior that then influence how they make decisions. Previous research has shown that personality is a helpful tool for understanding leaders' strategies, but it has not been used to analyze these two leaders. Consequently, I adopted a methodological framework to find how leaders' personalities affected their FP decisions. I conducted a leadership trait analysis, an analysis of their sensitivity to the political context, and an analysis of the variables influenced by the leader’s leadership style. This analysis revealed that the two leaders have the same leadership style. However, their same leadership style leads them to tackle issues based on circumstances. Both leaders then address issues on a case-by-case basis, leading to different FP decisions. Secondly, another contributing factor to the differences in FP decisions is how they interpreted information and their level of experience in FP. Lastly, the third factor showed that differences arise because leaders bend their personalities based on context. Overall, these findings explain that both leaders’ personalities served to understand their differences in foreign policy decisions toward the U.S.

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