MODELS OF INTERNATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND THE ROLE THEORY ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY
MODELS OF INTERNATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND THE ROLE THEORY ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY

Summary/Abstract: The article deals with the issue of the role theory as one of research methods concerning international leadership. It explains the concept of an international role and shows its influence on research devoted to international leadership: how it is defined, how specific models are constructed and how particular types are classified. It also indicates the interdependencies governing international roles and leaders and emphasizes the significance of the factors determining it: the conflict, quantitative and qualitative changes, significance and influence of the position and identity of other international actors on the nature of leadership. The aim of the article is to tie the role theory with the concept of leadership and to check how and to what extent this method remains effective today within the field if international relations. The article tries to verify what research questions the method answers and what questions it leaves unanswered. The theoretical research in this field will be backed up with some empirical examples referring to the case study of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). This actor constitutes a perfect exemplification of an international leader with a wide range of roles played and changed over the years. It is characterized not only by dynamics and reorientation of its foreign policy as a manifestation of the role it plays, but also by its range of adaptation skills conditioned, inter alia, by such processes as role-making, role-taking or role-learning.

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