Reviews
Provides a multiperspective approach that can enrich and enlighten readers' knowledge of foreign policy decisions.
Rarely does one find a book that both thoroughly presents a theoretical framework and then actually tests that framework against reality by the rigorous use of history. Steve Yetiv... has done a remarkably good job of balancing both elements in a new study of U.S. decision-making in the first Persian Gulf War.
Whether or not Explaining Foreign Policy ultimately takes its place beside Essence of Decision as a seminal work in the field, the book serves the same function in challenging analysts to question conventional models and accommodate complexity in the scholarly study of foreign policy.
An important approach to analyzing complex foreign policy decision-making.
An impressive foreign-policy analysis of U.S. decision-making in the Persian Gulf War... A well-researched and highly readable book.
Using the Persian Gulf crisis of 1991 as a case study, Steve Yetiv examines how important foreign policy decisions are made. His fresh and interesting contribution brings together competing decision-making theories to produce a rich interpretation of the event. It is also novel in considering both U.S. and Iraqi decision-making processes. Intriguing, accessible, and useful, this book will appeal to students, experts, and general readers.
Book Details
Preface to the Second Edition
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. The United States, Iraq, and the Crisis: Some Background
2. The Rational Actor Model
3. A Cognitive Compass: Analogies at Work
4. Constructing
Preface to the Second Edition
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. The United States, Iraq, and the Crisis: Some Background
2. The Rational Actor Model
3. A Cognitive Compass: Analogies at Work
4. Constructing the Threat: Saddam the Global Menace
5. Elements of Groupthink on the Road to War
6. Government Politics: Not Much, Actually
7. Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall: Evaluating the Perspectives
8. Threading the Tale
9. Tackling Puzzles and Developing Theory
10. Understanding Government Behavior: Integrating Process, Choice, and Outcome
11. Invading Iraq
12. Beyond the Gulf: Foreign Policy and World Politics
Appendix: Core Interviews
Notes
Bibliography
Index