Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Foreign Policy
Foreign Policy
International Relations
Foreign Policy
1. Making foreign policy
a. Models of decision-making
i. Rational model:
1) Step1: Set a goal
2) Step 2: Evaluate relative importance the
goal to decide whether or not to take
substantial action
3) Step 3: Come up with possible course of
actions and calculate costs and benefits
for each one
4) Step 4: Choose and carry out the action best
suited for the situation
5) Complicated by uncertainty about costs
and benefits: individual decision makers
will propose different sets of possible costs
and benefits
ii. Organizational process model
1) Rely on a standardized course of response
standard operating procedures
2) The decisions made may not always
correspond to the general principles adopted
by the top leaders
iii. Government bargaining (bureaucratic
politics) model
1) Decisions are made through bargaining
among government agencies with diverge
interests
2) Foreign policy decisions reflect a mix of
interests
b. Individual decision makers
i. Realists assumptions oversimplify decision-making
of individuals; decisions reflect values and
beliefs of the individual
ii. Idiosyncrasiesthe distinctive way of though or
behavioraffect the decision making of the
individuals
iii. Systematic ways that also affect individual
decision-making
1) Misperception and selective
perception: people filter the incoming
information on which the decision is based
with information screens that are often
(subconsciously) biased
governmentalagencies,industrialcorporations,andresearch
institutes,workingtogethertosupplyanationsmilitaryforces
i. Corporationsthatproducegoodsforthemilitaryprofit
fromgovernmentcontracts
ii. Military officers
iii. Universitiesandscientificinstitutesthatreceivemilitary
researchcontracts
iv. Sometime the cooperation is shared among states
d. Public opinion
i. Views on foreign policies held by citizens
ii. Matters more in a democracy but is also essential
to an authoritarian state
iii. Governments win support from the public using
propaganda or manipulation of media
populationthatstaysinformedaboutinternationalissues
e. Legislature
i. Significant because it holds the ability to approve
or reject new spending
ii. Sometimes rival with the executive, but rarely
over major military operations
iii. Inparliamentarysystems,legislaturesplayakeyrolein
designingandimplementingforeignpolicy