Decision Making Theory

in Foreign policy
Richard C. Snyder, H.W. Bruck and Burton Sapin

by:
N
Himawan Bayu Patriadi, PhD.
W E

S
 Departing Points
Process analysis
 Actions, reactions, and interactions of nation-states

Action is planful
 Achieving aims and menacing aims of other states

The process may or may not symmetrical

Relationships are regularized

 Action is planful, interaction is patterned, aims persist,
reactions become uniform
Decision Making Diagram
Fundamental Approach

“The State as Actor in a Situation”

Assumptions
 Level of analysis:
 State
 Represents a model of a fictional state to analyzing any one state or
more despite their differences

 Actions decided at the national level

 State as actor in a situation:

 Any action needs the availability of actors, goals, means, and situation
 The situation defined by the actor relates himself to other actors, possible
goals, possible means and to the way and factors relevant to the
situation
 State action is taken by those acting by the name of
the state:

 Decision makers

 The definition of the situation featuring:

 Perception

 Choice

 Expectation

 Decision makers act upon and respond to domestic

and international settings
Defining International politics as processes of state
interaction at the governmental level:

 Internal setting:  External Setting:

 Domestic Politics, non-  Those which support or
human environment, social constrain of achieving goals
factors
 Depends on what decision
 Interaction between makers’ perceptions
social organization and
behavior and DM
processes (line BD)

 State action designed to

alter factors and behavior
(line EB)
Internal and External Settings are Mutually Related

 International politics:
State to state relations (at the governmental level)

 International relations:

Society to society (Inter-societal interactions at the non-

governmental level) , such as trade, family ties, migration,
shared values, cultural exchanges, etc.

 As long as perceived (by decision makers) affecting

state’s interest
Direction of Relationships
 Action and reaction of states (DEF4D)
 Changes at the external setting can influence state action
(DEF3A3BD)
 The feedback of relationships (DEBD and DEF3A3)
 Feedback from decision makers’ awareness of their own
action and the progress of action (ED)
 International politics (DEF4DE):
 DE represents state action
 EF (particularly EF4) represents impact upon external setting
 FD stands for stimuli-reactions or new action (F4D)

 DEFDE stands for the action-reaction-interaction sequence

Two Ways of Studying International
Politics (Scientifically)

 Description and measurement of interactions

 Decisionmaking - the formulation and

execution of policy

“Interaction patterns can be studied by themselves

without reference to decision-making except the ‘why’
of the pattern cannot be answered”
 Practical Functions of DMA

 Alerting observers to relationships among three related

empirical factors:

 State interaction (DEFD) at the governmental level

 Inter-societal interaction (ABF) at the non-governmental level

 Intra-societal interaction (BDEB) at both the governmental and

non-governmental level)

 Specifying the relevant factors in state behavior with a number

of concepts such as: decision making, action, setting, situation,
society, culture etc.