International Relations scholars and practitioners commonly agree that relationships in world politics are managed impersonally. Personal connections between agents of states are perceived as having only little impact on foreign policy of states. The current article challenges this impersonal ethos, suggesting that personal relationships play an important role in conducting, and thus understanding, interstate relations. Interviews conducted with 21 senior Israeli officials concerning mundane professional practices reveal three elements that are essential for successful statecraft: acknowledging the power of interpersonal relations; substantive knowledge of counterparts; and the excellent communicative competencies needed to realize the potential of personal connections. We argue that statespersons’ behavior can be located on an impersonal-interpersonal continuum. Furthermore, we suggest explanations for deviations from the impersonal ethos and discuss the role of interpersonal practices in managing interstate relations. At the very least, the personal aspect should be taken into consideration when examining foreign policy. However, personal relations may have a highly significant impact on interstate interactions, thus requiring a revision of the current paradigm in IR, which marginalizes the personal aspect.

国际关系学者和实践者通常都同意，世界政治中的关系是非人为管理的。国家行为者之间的人际关系被认为对国家外交政策影响很小。本篇文章对这种非人格化的精神提出了挑战，表明人际关系在进行并从而理解州际关系中起着重要的作用。对21名以色列高级官员进行的关于平凡专业实践的访谈显示，成功治国之道必不可少的三个要素是：承认人际关系的力量；同行的实质知识；以及实现人际关系潜力所需的出色的沟通能力。我们认为政治家的行为可以位于非人际-人际连续体上。此外，我们建议对与非人格精神背道而驰的解释，并讨论人际交往实践在管理州际关系中的作用。至少在审查外交政策时应考虑个人方面。但是，人际关系可能会对州际互动产生非常重大的影响，因此需要修改IR中的当前范例，从而将个人方面边缘化。