POL 3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Cuban Missile Crisis, Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action, Autocracy
25 Jan 2017
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Document Summary
Levels of analysis (individual, state, and the international system) Tells us where to look for different causal explanations. Focuses on personality, perceptions, choices, and activities of individual decision-makers to explain international events. Political institutions are: unstable, young, in crisis, collapsed. Ex. founding fathers (us), wwi (hitler i can get germany back on its feet ) In dictatorial or highly centralized regimes, leaders are relatively free from domestic constraints. Struggling democracies, institutions are still young and not stable. In established democracies, democratic leaders are constrained by bureaucracies and social groups. Ex. strong domestic opposition to the 2015 iran nuclear agreement. Unusual (issue is not routine and standard operating procedures (sops) are not available) No clear answer to what to do. Crisis situation: info in short supply and sops is not available or inapplicable. Creates scenarios where decision maker"s personal characteristics count most. Circumstances that cause actors" to behave differently based on their personal characteristics.
