Focusing on how policy makers make decisions in foreign policy, this book examines how beliefs are causal mechanisms which steer decisions, shape leaders and perceptions of reality, and lead to cognitive and motivated biases that distort, block and recast incoming information from the environment.

Autorentext
MARK SCHAFER is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Louisiana State University, USA.

STEPHEN G. WALKER is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Arizona State University, USA.

Inhalt
Operational Code Analysis: An Overview; S.G.Walker & M.Schafer PART I: METHODS: CONTENT ANALYSIS AND FORMAL MODELS Issues in the 'At a Distance' Assessment of Political Leaders: Content Analysis by Hand and by Machine; M.Schafer & S.G.Walker A World of Beliefs: Simulating Interactions Among Agents with Different Operational Codes; B. Gregory Marfleet & S.G.Walker PART II: APPLICATIONS: THE DOMAIN OF LEADER-ADVISOR RELATIONS The Eyes of Kesteven: How the Worldviews of Margaret Thatcher and Her Cabinet Influenced British Foreign Policy; S.Crichlow George W. Bush and the Rise of the Vulcans: Leader-Advisor Relations and America's Response to the 9/11 Attacks; S.Robinson PART III: APPLICATIONS: THE DOMAIN OF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY A New Taiwan Crisis Deferred: An Operational Code Analysis of Chinese Leaders Across the Straits; H.Feng Subjective Games and Unexpected Moves: Altercasting at the End of the Cold War; A.Malici The Distinctive Language of Terrorists; E.Lazarevska, J.Sholl & M.Young PART IV: APPLICATIONS: THE DOMAIN OF INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL ECONOMY OPERATIONAL CODE ANALYSIS AND ECONOMIC SANCTIONS: HOW U.S. PRESIDENTS PERCEIVE AND USE ECONOMIC COERCION; C.Drury Beliefs About Relative vs. Absolute Gains: U.S. Presidents and NAFTA Trade Disputes; M.Stevenson Operational Code Analysis and the World Bank: The Political Psychology of Financial Crisis in Southeast Asia; C.Thies Structural International Relations Theories and the Future of Operational Code Analysis; S.G. Walker & M.Schafer