Mintz, A., & DeRouen, K. R., 2010, ‘Understanding foreign policy decision making, pp. 15-18,
New York, Cambridge University Press, Retrieved from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/0c7a/42d12a3710ba23fea4459fa2515728d0683f.pdf
Alex Mintz is currently the dean of Launder School of Government, Diplomacy and Strategy at IDC-Herzliya, Israel. The recipient of the Distinguished Scholar Award for distinguished contribution to the field from the Foreign Policy Analysis of the International Studies Association. He has published edited or co-edited nine books and is an author of multiple articles in top journals such as the American Political Science Review and American Journal of Political Science.
Karl DeRouen Jr. is a Professor of Political Science, Director of the International Studies Program and a college of Arts and Science Leadership Board Faculty Fellow at the University of Alabama. His works have appeared in a number of journals such as Journal of Politics, International Organizations, Journal of Peace research and so forth. He is currently working on Civil war related projects funded by the Folke Bernadotte Academy of Sweden and the Marsden Fund of New Zealand and a National Science Foundation funded project on negotiated settlements.
In this chapter Mintz and DeRouen analyzed the decision making environment where the different types of decisions and levels of analysis in Foreign Policy Decision Making are discussed. The authors described the different types of foreign policy decisions, the examples of these decisions, why and how each of these decisions is made. They also examined how these decisions are made at the three main levels of analysis: individual, group and coalition and the factors that influence the decision making unit to enforce the decisions.
The information shared is targeted towards students of International Relations who would one day be policy and decision makers so they would critically analyze the decisions of foreign policy at the three main levels. Subsequently, they would be in a right position to enforce the decisions for the benefit of their state and others by avoiding all means of conflicts.
The information shared was gained through methodological experiment and their personal knowledge. Meaning that, there were many other books, journal articles and reviews that were also consulted to gain data. Some of these sources were both these author’s works. The research carried out is tremendous.
The chapter is reliable for all students of international relations with the foreign policy decision making bodies of states and organizations. It is reliable because of its emphasis was on indicating the different foreign policy decision types, which as: one-shot decisions, interactive decisions, sequential decisions, sequential-interactive decisions and group decisions including the unilateral, negotiated, structured and unstructured decisions. It also stated the holistic, heuristic and holistic decisions in FPDM made by individuals, groups and coalitions and the trade-offs faced by the decision making unit.
For instance single or one –slot decisions are described as decisions made interactively with other actors like the US decision not to invade Iraq in 1991 or its decision to invade Iraq in 2003. On the other hand, group decision making is argued as the complicated one as group members have different agendas, interests and preferences and preferences for ordering structures and policy options. An example of a group decision is the decision by the UN Security Council group members. Hence, in order for one to make foreign policy decisions at different levels of analysis rationally, understanding and analyzing these decisions and their examples is equivalently essential.
The literature is important in the unit foreign policy analysis because it illustrates clearly the types of decisions made at the three levels of analysis that we have covered so far. It is relevant for my study as it provides a common understanding of the various types of foreign policy decision making made by the decision making unit. The provision of examples is significant towards analyzing the decisions made by Foreign Policy Decision Makers of states. For example, James Marape decision to shift PNGs focus on traditional economy can be classified as a single, unilateral and holistic foreign policy decision.
However the chapter was limited with descriptions with only few comparisons of the types of decisions. Thus the authors concluded that decision process and are shaped by who makes the decision. They also indicated the four stages of decision making process; intelligence, design, choice and implementation.
In my own perspective, I think the chapter is vastly useful as being a student studying foreign policy analysis. The descriptions, definitions and examples are indicated clearly and straight on point.
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