David A. Welch

A Positive Science of Bureaucratic Politics

3. Are there thorny normative issues that have been neglected in the writings on bureaucratic and governmental politics? Under what circumstances is conflict likely to have functional rather than dysfunctional impacts on information processing, decision making, and policy change? What types of institutional arrangements contribute to moderating and regulating conflictual dynamics? Paul t Hart and Uriel Rosenthal argue that the bureaucratic politics literature in international relations has systematically avoided these questions. They offer several avenues for seeking answers.

Specifying "Interests": Japan's Claim to the Northern Territories and Its Implications for International Relations Theory

Theories of international relations commonly rely upon strong assumptions about state preferences, or derive them from ancillary theories that themselves make strong assumptions about the sources of state preferences. By means of a detailed explanation of interest-formation and interest-specification in a particular case (the Japanese interest in the recovery of the Northern Territories), supplemented by comparative discussion, this paper argues that national “interests” are idiosyncratic and best treated exogenously. It assesses the implications for international relations theory and addresses some common objections.

Whither the Study of Governmental Politics in Foreign Policymaking

Editors Note: Unlike previous essay reviews in this journal, this review is a symposium with a number of different experts reflecting on governmental politics from a variety of perspectives. Eric Stern and Bertjan Verbeek both organized and have served as editors of the symposium. They wrote the introduction and conclusion to the piece. The various authors represent three different disciplines—political science, psychology, and public administration—and come from four countries. Several are involved in the application of this knowledge in collaboration with a government agency. All are concerned with where research on governmental politics has been and where it can and should go in the future.

Risking “The Destruction of Nations”: Lessons of The Cuban Missile Crisis for New and Aspiring Nuclear States

The authors wish to acknowledge the helpful comments of Peter Feaver, Nancy Gallagher, Thomas Graham, Richard Ned Lebow, Scott Sagan, and Melissa Williams, as well as the generous support of the Rockefeller Foundation.