The Challenges of Future Leadership in International Affairs

The article deals with the structural shifts towards multipolarity and global changes such as climate change, Industrial Revolution 4.0 and pandemics as phenomena that will shape the future generation of political leaders. The author works with neoclassical realism as a primary paradigm that enables him to evaluate structural shifts and the quality of political establishment on the unit level. The article entails both qualitative and quantitative methods. The Composite Index of National Capability and the comparison of gathered data falls into the quantitative methods, while analysis of scientific literature is the qualitative research method. The article’s primary aim is to determine the scope of the current challenges for future political leaders. The paper’s central argument formulates the hypothesis that future leaders will be vastly shaped by the shift towards multipolarity in which the balance of power logic drives international affairs. At the same time, the future political thinkers are about to deal with the global emergencies caused by climate crisis, pandemics and Industrial Revolutions 4.0 and 5.0.