Foreign policy analysis - Essay Example

Allison suggests that using this model may be too simplistic to explain accurately the full dynamics of the crisis. One of his reasons in promoting the “organizational actor” theory in contrast to this interpretation is that the State is not a single entity but rather a practical assemblage of people, processes, and institutions that often act with conflicting rates of efficiency and motivation. As Sundaram (2011) writes, “An ‘organizational process’ model in which the decision maker operates under time and information constraints, and does not seek an optimal solution.

Instead, the decision maker engages in ‘satisficing’ behavior and attempts to find a solution which achieves a set (minimum) goal, and minimizes risk of failure.” (Sundaram, 2011, p.22) Allison finally modified this thesis to a “bureaucratic politics” which took into consideration the full complexity of the government in action. (Sundaram, 2011, p.25) These distinctions show why the decision-making aspects of government may proceed differently in a crisis vs. during normal times. A crisis presents a critical situation that can spiral out of control at any moment.

This is seen in the nuclear escalation between the USA and USSR in the Cuban Missile Crisis. . Practically, when the Cuban Blockade was implemented by Kenendy, the policy would be implemented not by JFK himself but by a wide range of instruments of the US bureaucracy, military, and innumerable soldiers or staff. If any one of these individuals made a mistake in the crisis, it could have spiraled out of control in a way that would have changed the way Kennedy or Khrushchev could make further decisions.

Compare the negotiations between Gorbachev and Reagan that took place at Reykjavik and other locations during the end of the Cold War. In one to one negotiations at the highest level, the rational actor theory seems like a plausible way to explain history. Yet, in the Cuban Missile Crisis, the American Navy and Russian Navy could have exchanged fire at any time, creating a Gulf of Tonkin or Lusitania moment that could have led to further escalation in MAD. Allison states he expected that Kennedy made a personal and private offer to Khrushchev that defused the situation, and historically he was proven correct.

(Marks, 1991, Web) This offer allowed Khrushchev to remove bases from Cuba with the personal assurance from Kennedy that the US nuclear weapons would also be removed from Turkey. (Marks, 1991, Web) Question 2: assess the effectiveness of military force as a tool for foreign policy In an article written just after the 9/11 attacks, MIT professor Noam Chomsky cited the US Army manual which define terrorism as "the calculated use of violence or threat of violence to attain goals that are political, religious, or ideological in nature.

through intimidation, coercion, or instilling fear." (Chomsky, 2002) What Chomsky and others have noted throughout history is the fundamental relationship of military force and the violence of war to terrorism. For example,