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Classical realists argued for an approach to national power that included its socialbase. According to Carr, “Power over opinion is … not less essential for politicalpurposes than military and economic power, and has always been closely associatedwith them. The art of persuasion has always been a necessary part of the equipmentof a political leader”. 180 Astute leadership is an important component of thetranslation of ‘static’ national resources into potential state power. The ideas held bythese individuals thus play an important role in the policy process: 181 It is to thisquestion – of leadership, political parties and key domestic actors - that we nowturn.3.2.3 Unit-level intervening variables: The role of governing parties andleadersForeign policy decisions are taken by an individual or a group of individuals, whoare connected to society through their elected office, along with other incentives toselect and implement certain policies over others. This elected office derives fromthe domestic political structure that establishes legitimate authority over the state,and may be parliamentary or presidential. The individual or group of individualstasked with taking foreign policy decisions is referred to as a Foreign PolicyExecutive (FPE) in some of the neoclassical realism literature. 182 It is also known asthe ‘decision unit’ in FPA. A ‘decision unit’ is “a set of authorities with the ability tocommit the resources of the society and, with respect to a particular problem, theauthority to make a decision that cannot be readily reversed”. 183 Differences fromstate to state in national extractive capacity will result from different decisionmakingand –implementing rules within the state, such as the extent to whichgovernment is centralized, the nature of the party system with respect to democraticaccountability and cohesion, and the relationship between the governing party and180 EH Carr, The Twenty Years Crisis,132, cited in Taliaferro, 2006: 473.181 See Daniel Byman and Kenneth M. Pollack, “Let Us Now Praise Great Men: Bringingthe Statesman Back In”, International Security, 25, No. 4, Spring 2001.182 See Steven E. Lobell, “Threat assessment, the state and foreign policy: aneoclassical realist model”, in Neoclassical Realism, eds., Lobell, Ripsman andTaliaferro (2010): 74, and Norrin M. Ripsman, “Neoclassical Realism and domesticinterest groups” (2010): 170-193 in the same volume.183 Margaret G. Hermann, and Charles F. Hermann, “Who Makes Foreign PolicyDecisions and How: An Empirical Enquiry”, International Studies Quarterly, 33, No.4(1989): 362.93