Description
Book SynopsisThoroughly updated with a new preface and a chapter on the 2003 Iraq War, Explaining Foreign Policy, already widely used in courses, will continue to be of interest to students and scholars of foreign policy, international relations, and related fields.
Trade Review"Rarely does one find a book that both thoroughly presents a theoretical framework and then actually tests that framework against reality by the vigorous use of history. Steve Yetiv... has done a remarkably good job of balancing both elements in a new study of US decision-making in the first Persian Gulf War." (Perspectives on Political Science) "An important approach to analyzing complex foreign policy decision-making." (Comparative Strategy) "An impressive foreign-policy analysis of US decision-making in the Persian Gulf War... A well-researched and highly readable book." (Political Studies Review)"
Table of ContentsPreface 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
