Why is the assassination of heads of states almost never used in realpoliticking?

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I thought about this when a coworker mentioned in casual conversation that they wondered why a certain head of state (no reason to get into specifics) is not simply done away with to resolve a currently ongoing international conflict. To my knowledge that’s almost never done in the real world because it rarely works as intended. I was wondering if any politics/international relationship experts or avid Hitman/Assassin’s Creed players knows the real reason why this is, and if there’s even a official term for why this is not done in real politics? Thanks.

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Anonymous 0 Comments

As others have mentioned, it is not easy to do. And it has been tried before.

But one aspect is, leaders don’t magic themselves to become leaders. Every one of them spent years in some organization be it political, military, religious, etc. Their messages and ideology are not born “whole cloth”. These leaders embody a will and ideas developed by success and interaction. This is why it is seldom correct to say “the people don’t want this. it is only the leaders”.

In many cases, eliminating the leaders just means they’ll be replaced with another with broadly the same ideas and intent. No leader stands alone – they’re always supported by structures political, social, military, economic etc.

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