Military, World, International & World Politics, International Relations 

History is an old, yet constantly changing discipline. Traditionally, the interpretation of the past oscillated between two opposed poles; on the one hand, there were those who believed that events were determined not by individuals but by an impersonal process (though, of course, there were contending views of what that process is, or how it unravels), and on the other hand, there were those who stressed the contingent aspects of politics and history, and hence the impact of personalities.
Neither of these two concepts of history is new. Its interpretation as an ongoing structure and impersonal process ranges from the idea of tyche in the writing of Aristotle or Polybius, of necessitate in Machiavelli, to Hegel, Marx or Max weber and more recently from the cliometrians around postal. Finley or momigliano to the neo-Marxists of the Frankfurt school or the Annales School in France.
This type of history has been opposed, though less systematically by (to name but a few) Lewis Namier and Geoffrey Elton and lately by revisionist historians like conral Russell and Michael Bentley who prefer the study of high politics to the structure imposed by social science theories. In the field of international history, too suggestion has been made to avoid systematic approaches. However, whilst it would be misguided to deny the importance of systemic and structural aspect in the study international history, focusing on it ‘personality dimension’ does by no means imply the ‘Namierization’ of international history or the advocacy of (somewhat esoteric) postmodernist theories.
Combining essays on the 'personality dimension' in 19th and 20th century international history, this book places in a proper historical perspective the impact of individual diplomats, politicians and military strategists on foreign policy-making as well as the role of perception in the policy-making process.



 

Combines essays on the "personality dimension" in the 19th and 20th century international history, placing in a proper historical perspective the impact of individual diplomats, politicians and military strategists on foreign policy-making. - from Amzon 

CONTENTS
- Introduction: Personalities and Impersonal Forces in History by T.C. Otte ... P. 1
- Eyre Crowe and British Foreign Policy: A Cognitive Map by T.C Otte ........... P. 14
- Field Marshal Conrad Von Hotzendorf and the Outbreak of the First World War. by John H. Maurer .................................... P. 38
- The British Official Mind and the United States 1919 - 42 by Erik Goldstein.. P.66
- Gustav Stresemann: Liberal or Realist? by Jonathan Wright ....................... P. 81
- Viscrunt Cecil, Winston Churchill and the Geneva Naval Conference of 1927 Si vis pacern para pacem vs si vis pacern para bellun by Tadashi Karamatsu ......... P. 105
- Sir Robert Vansittart and Spain, 1931 - 1941 by Glyn Stone...................... P. 127
- The Myth of Leadership: Dwight Eisenhower and the Quest for Liberation by. W. Scott Lucus ............. P. 158
- the Diplomacy at Junitim: Paul Hernn Speak and European Integration by Pierre-Henri Laurent. ......... P. 186
- Defence Sufficiency and the Military-Political Conception of Nikita Kihrushches by Serge N. Kihrushochen .... P. 233
- John F. Kennedy, Nuclear Test and the Politics of Cold War Foreign Policy by Kendrick Oliver .............. P. 234
- The Limits of Personal Influence: Harold Macmillan and Anglo-French Relations, 1960 - 1963 by Constantine A. Pagedos ......... P. 254
- index ...................................................... P. 283