Diplomacy expert Richard Higgott discusses “The Strongman Problem” in terms of what it means for the collective problem-solving required to deal with war, climate change, pandemics, cyber-insecurity, and economic inequality. This means that traditional international relations research needs to look beyond institutions and policies to consider the impact and personality types of individual leaders, male and female, in order to reckon with the danger posed by today’s “strongmen.” He points out, for example, that zero-sum “strongman” leaders tend to prolong wars and violence. This conversation took place shortly after the 2024 election of Donald Trump in the US, when Professor Higgott was in Hungary, a country led by one of Trump’s fellow “strongman” leaders.

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