Profiling the President: explaining Donald Trump’s nationalistic foreign policy decisions using Leadership Trait Analysis and Operational Code Analysis

Abstract

How does an individual leader's personality and beliefs shape a country's foreign policies? Donald Trump has promised to put America First by disrupting the liberal international system in favour of a nationalistic isolationism. His violation of international norms and close friendship with rogue leaders have led many to question his psychological fitness to be president. The research on foreign policy analysis lacks a systematic examination linking the personalities and beliefs of leaders to the hyper-nationalistic policies they adopt. This article conducts at-a-distance content analysis, specifically Leadership Trait Analysis and Operational Code Analysis, on US President Donald Trump in order to explain four puzzling nationalistic foreign policies.