POLI 243 Lecture Notes - Cuban Missile Crisis, Massive Retaliation, Rational Agent
18 Mar 2013
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States may be pursuing many policies at once, may be contradictory. Subsidize tobacco farmers whilst other parts of government oppose tobacco. Internal divisions not a single rational actor. Different parts or pieces pursuing their own goals, what may be rational for one might be batshit crazy for another. Department of agriculture may support the subsidization of tobacco farmers. How the world was so close to the third world war. Model 1: system level realist argument (one single unitary actor) Dominant way people think about security but not good enough. Both leaders (soviets and us) were trying to be rational but they weren"t. Difference between what should be done and what can be done. Different pieces in government arguing over what to do. Winner out of internal discussion within the argument. Model 3 encompasses a bit of 1 and 2. Massive retaliation soviets lacked the ability to hurt the united states, had the bombs but lacked the aircraft.
