MVZ291
The Politics of Decision-making: American Presidents, and Israeli
Prime Ministers in Crisis
Course Overview
• This course will focus on the connections between
• the dynamics of foreign policy decisions and
• the substance of specific foreign policy crisis.
• We will learn the relationships among the various decision
types,
• How they are and how they were chosen,
• The constraints that work for or against effective decisions, the
environmental influences affecting said decisions, and
• The substance of actual, historical foreign policy decisions.
Course Overview
• There will be case studies.
• Each case study is a crisis.
• Those that have been chosen have been done
either for their decision type and how the leader
with or without other policymakers concluded the
crisis.
• While some case studies are well known others
may not be.
Course Objectives
• The understanding of decision types and how
political, psychological, cultural, social, and
organizational factors influence said decision
during crisis.
• Providing comprehension on various themes,
historical events, and personalities of American
and Israeli leaders.
Learning Objectives
• Describe the development of both the American presidency and
Israeli premiership to evaluate the consequences and outcomes of
the decision making process during crisis;
• Explain the formal and informal mechanisms that leaders can use
to achieve objectives in a crisis when interacting with other
branches of government, the bureaucracy, and the public;
• Identify institutional and political constraints that limit the leaders
ability to achieve decision making;
• Analyze the major factors affecting the successful outcome of crisis
• Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different decision
making type approaches.
Course Requirements
• assigned readings;
• class attendance and appropriate contributions
to section discussions;
• two short-essay analysis papers;
• a mid-term examination; and
• a final examination or research paper.
Structure of class
• Overview of topic
• Case study
• Review and commentary
Expectations
• Arrive prepared and ready to participate
• weekly readings
• awake
• not preoccupied
• Ask questions
• Respect to classmates and instructor
Exam Schedule
• Short-essay paper #1 (Week 4)
• Short-essay paper #2 (Week 8)
• Final exam (last week/January)
Grading
• 20 percent on participation.
• 20 percent for each of the two short papers.
• 30 percent on the final examination.
Readings
• Links are in syllabus to websites and PDF files.
• Instructor will decide from readings
• Not all readings listed will be used
• Uploaded to IS are chapters to read
Decision-Making
• Models
• rational actor
• bounded rationality cybernetic
• poliheuristic
• prospect
• bureaucratic
Theme: Executive power
• Nature of Executive power
• Constitution of U.S.
• Generally speaking, the role of the president as a true decision-maker in foreign policy and
decision making regarding crisis has found in Article II.
• Tradition in Israel
• Generally speaking, the role of the full cabinet as a true decision-making body has declined,
• a marked tendency towards centralizing decision-making in the prime minister office.
• Israel is a good example where the full cabinet has rarely been the true center of decision-
making.
• there is a “kitchen cabinet” which enjoys constitutional authority to make final decisions in
lieu of the full cabinet on security issues.
Executive power
• The chief executive's position within the executive branch
and in relation to parties and other political players in the
wider political process has been upgraded as a result of
the effects of the modern mass media, which favor a high
degree of personalization of politics.
• In addition to the legal and institutional structures, the
personal style also affects executive power.
• static
• innovative
Sources
• Dan Korn: “The Presidentialization of Politics: the
Power and Constraints of the Israeli Prime
Minister”