International Relations and International Organization Political Science
Summaries - Readings Week 3
1. Voss and Dorsey: Perception and International Relations: an overview Reader: 59-70 2
2. Milburn: Attitudes and public opinion Reader: 71-79 7
3. Yetiv: Groupthink and the Gulf Crisis Online article 9
4. Randall: “Taking Stock” Can the theory of reasoned action explain unethical conduct? Online article 11
,International Relations and International Organization Political Science
1. Voss and Dorsey: Perception and International Relations: an overview (Reader: 59-70)
The sudden events of 1989 have challenged IR theorists; it had profound consequences for the
development of IR theory: the bipolar order changed into a multipolar one. IR theory is characterized
by a multiplicity of approaches: one of which is perceptual, an orientation which acknowledges that
how an issue is perceived will influence what action is taken. In a broader context, this approach is a
major component of the theoretical perspective of foreign policy decision making, which contrasts
with more traditional IR theory.
Since WWII, the traditional or predominant model of IR has been realism, which has as its basic
assumption that each state acts as a power-maximizing entity. It’s basic unit of analysis is the state,
and the interactions of states are assumed to be a function of the distribution of capabilities among
the states. This position does not focus upon the decision-making processes of a state’s leaders or
upon the question of the leader’s motivations and perceptions. The distribution of capabilities
among states is especially emphasized in the systems-theory position of Waltz: international system
as a structure that is based on the arrangement of states and their capabilities. According to Waltz,
these two factors are critical and even sufficient to study IR. The traditional IR scholars renders other
factors such as analysis of character and personality of leaders unnecessary.
The critical question whether the perceptual approach makes sense can, for realists, be based on one
question: to what extent does structure determine state actions?
- If it is structure and only structure that determines state actions, then there can be no place for
decision making, perception, personality, or any other factor as a determiner.
- If structure is one of the many determinants, then the issue becomes one of how each of the
factors shaping a state’s action is weighted.
- Waltz argues that “structure operates as a cause, but is not the only cause in play.” How can
one separate structural from other causes? By comparative method, Waltz argues.
- Another systems theorist, Kaplan, argues that “Systems are said to be coupled when the
output of one system affects the input of another.” To account for all external influences,
would increase complexity. While Waltz argues for sufficiency of a systems analysis, Kaplan
advocates use of systems theory to avoid complexities of perceptual and other approaches.
In contrast to the systemic perspective, the foreign policy decision-making orientation assumes that
a number of variables influence a state’s actions, of which the most important are goals of the state’s
decision-makers and how situations are perceived by decision makers to relate to these goals. Since
the 1950s, interest in the study of foreign policy decision-making as well as the role of perception in
international affair has grown. Two reasons:
1. The questioning of the explanatory power of traditional theory, e.g. the realist approach cannot
account for situations in which a country could assert its power but does not; definitional problems
2. The influence of advancements in other disciplines, especially decision theory and cognitive
psychology. Behavioural decision theory and game-theoretic approaches have had an impact on IR
- Also in cognitive psychology, the study of problem solving has shown the importance of the
problem representation, which in IR has been called the definition of the situation.
- Cognitive psychology has pointed to the limited capacity of a person’s working memory, which
underscores the problem of information overload in problem solving and decision making
The cognitive position implies that because humans build perceptions of the world, and because such
perceptions are influenced by a range of factors, the cognitive viewpoint places responsibility for
international activity upon decision-makers. They are the determiners of the actions of states, not a
general and undefined structure.
Although both positions are concerned with states and their interaction, the realist tradition
operates at state level and attributes causality to actions of other states and capability of a state to
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, International Relations and International Organization Political Science
respond while the perceptual tradition attributes causation to the factors influencing the policy-
making behaviour of the state’s elites, including how the actions of other states are interpreted.
- Singer has related level-of-analysis issue to the determinism and free will problem: systems theory
would be deterministic (structure determines actions) and the perceptual or decision-making theory
would be ‘free will’ (goals determine actions). This does not hold, according to Voss and Dorsey,
because whether an action is deterministic or reflects free will depends upon one’s causal model.
- To address the problem more appropriately, is to consider the levels as constraints upon the
behaviour of international actors. It may be assumed that any given action taken by a state is
constrained by a number of factors. Sometimes the international system may be a constraint,
sometimes the constraints of the system are relatively unimportant, while a leader’s personality or
the bureaucratic hierarchy are important.
In considering perception, and its relation to international interaction - which will be done in the rest
of this reading -, it is important to realize that one component of the cognitive system cannot be
separated from other components, e.g. how a person perceives is dependent on he or she learns, etc
Perception and foreign policy decision-making
Perception
Perception, for us, is defined as an integrative process by which stimuli become interpreted by the
individual, the process taking place via the integration of the stimulus events with prior knowledge
and beliefs of the individual. It is assumed that perception and interpretation are interwoven
processes; and that individuals build mental representations which provide coherence and stability
to their interpretation.
The mental representation of ‘images’ is most frequently found in IR:
- This concept is primarily used to describe the conceptualization that individuals have of other
individuals, entities or objects. Images have particular attributes; they may have geographical,
economic, cultural, political and affect-related components.
- Images that are assumed to have attributes that characterize all elements of a particular group are
stereotypes, e.g. racial, ethnic or religious. Within the international sphere, there are stereotypical
images like enemy, ally and other interstate relationships
- A benefit of images is that they provide for efficient information processing; images simplify all
information that is available about certain country or person. At the other hand, such categorization
also has the cost of overgeneralization: countries are thus not sufficiently differentiated.
The widespread existence of images brings into focus one of the most important aspects of
perception: the ability of people to categorize information. Categories require the existence of a
subordinate term, such as bird, and subordinate terms, such as hawk and sparrow. Categorical
relations include more than two levels; a position developed by Rosch is that natural categories
generally consist of three levels - abstract, basic and subordinate or concrete. He further argues that
the basic level provides for initial differentiation that most people making in processing information.
Perceptions and beliefs
“Belief is a term reserved for the information that a person has about other people, objects and
issues. The information may be factual [or an] opinion.” Attitude refers to a persisting positive or
negative feeling about a person, event, or object, including a country.
- Beliefs influence perception through their relation to expectations and interpretations. Beliefs set
up expectations, and when an events occurs, we are likely to interpret the event in relation to our
expectations. Expectations have three important effects:
1. They permit rapid identification of the expected object or event;
2. They admit a relatively wide range of objects or events as fulfilling the expectation, which
creates both swift identification and misidentification;
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