PLS 160 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Rational Choice Theory, Bargaining, Negative Feedback
Document Summary
Decision making is the process of evaluating and choosing among alternative courses of action. When looking at how foreign policy decision are made, we look at both the chosen course of action (content) and the factors that influence how and why the decision to take that action was made (process). Many factors effecting the decision making process are of states derive from the perceptions and images held by individuals serving in various roles of government. A characteristic of purposive behavior, or the ability to relate a means to ends. Relating means to ends can refer to the certainty of which they are related, or how well the consequences of the behavior match the desired consequences. This model assumes that the actor possesses all relevant information and uses this information to decide on the course of action that maximizes benefits relative to costs.
