Graduate Program
Political Science
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Semester of Degree Completion
2005
Thesis Director
Ryan Hendrickson
Thesis Committee Member
David Carwell
Thesis Committee Member
Richard Wandling
Abstract
The principle aim of this thesis is to examine how strategic culture affects foreign policy decision-making, as contrasted to the particular decree of influence the individuals have on the foreign policy process in the concept of an immediate extended deterrence. This thesis is based on three case studies that are tested separately using both Cha's notion of strategic culture and Allison's Bureaucratic Politics Model in order to find which model (if any) best explains foreign policy decision making. Cases are: The SemiVietnamese War in 1979 and Deng Xiaoping, the Taiwan Strait Crisis in 1996 and Jiang Zemin, and the Kosovo War in 1999 and Slobodan Milosevic. All cases are studied from the attacking party's perspective, and showed significant results for both strategic culture and the individual influences. The findings demonstrate that decision makers evaluate strategic cultural elements in the decision making process, however, Allison's Model seems to be more useful for understanding foreign policy decision making. The findings also have significant implications for providing better understanding of foreign policy decision making in immediate extended deterrence situations.
Recommended Citation
Demir, Emine Sunduz, "Cultural and individual influences on foreign policy" (2005). Masters Theses. 980.
https://thekeep.eiu.edu/theses/980
