Heidi H. Hobbs

“Bureaucratic Bargaining”: An American Foreign Policy Simulation

The complexities of the governmental machinery and personal perceptions involved in the formulation of American foreign policy are difficult for students to comprehend from the confines of the classroom. Beginning students often enter the study of international relations/political science with a simplistic view of policy making. They tend to accept a priori what Graham Allison (1971) calls the “rational actor model” in which students “package the activities of various officials of a national government as action chosen by a unified actor, strongly analogous to an individual human being.” Students often believe that foreign policy is set by a cohesive group of individuals who share common goals and preferences. The additional tendency to anthropomorphize the state leads undergraduates to write papers in which nation-states are portrayed with such diverse human qualities as sympathy, cruelty, greed, and aggression. Modern scholarship on decision making has expanded beyond this traditional view to encompass differing variables. There is an ongoing debate in the discipline as to what is the most potent variable in American foreign policy. One group of scholars contends that the bureaucratic or role variable is more important. While agreeing that role is a powerful restriction, particularly at the lower levels of the bureaucracy, other scholars argue that the individual perceptions and beliefs of policy makers are more important in the decision-making process. Given the complicated nature of this debate, a creative way to expose beginning students to American foreign policy decision making is through a simulation. Simulations are useful for the study of the decision-making process because the standard lecture-discussion format, which provides a linear overview of the subject, does not adequately communicate the complex structure and multiplicity of factors in operation.

A Review of: “International Studies: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Global Issues”

The growing field of International Studies, if indeed it can even be called a field, is so broad that it can encompass everything that is ‘‘international.’’ It is the intersection of various academic disciplines but lacks an integrative framework. Any subject matter, defined as ‘‘international’’ and the point at which various disciplines converge, is fair game. This eclectic scheme of organization is reflected in the way in which International Studies majors have developed in colleges and universities across the United States. While there is tremendous interest in all that is ‘‘international,’’ fueling the proliferation of these majors and minors, it is the ‘‘studies’’ aspect that has varied from one institution to the next. As a result, while there is a great need for a core conceptual framework, it remains elusive. The key question becomes—Are there any theories and approaches unique to International Studies other than the everything approach, i.e., utilizing all the different theories from each discipline as needed or desired? By definition, this interdisciplinary approach lacks integration. The international arena is the integrating force and as such becomes the dependent variable subject to the interpretations of various disciplines of academia operating as independent variables to explain the world—past, present, and future. It is in this light that Anderson, Hey, Peterson, and Toops have stylized their book, International Studies: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Global Issues. Organized in three sections, the first introduces the various disciplines they identify as contributing to international studies—political science, history, geography, economics, and anthropology. The second section offers regional views of the world, and the last, a very brief introduction to seven global issues. With the exception of the introduction and to some extent the conclusion that offer a glimpse into a more integrated international studies worldview, the chapters could stand alone. The first five as an introduction to five liberal arts disciplines the authors have identified as key to international studies, the second set as a regional overview of the world divided into four parts, and, the third, a quick introduction to pressing global issues. As such, this book would be an ideal freshman introduction to humanities and social science views of the world and the international issues that confront us. The

Whither Yugoslavia? The death of a nation

Abstract The violent and brutal conflict in Yugoslavia today is deeply entrenched in the past. The ethnic origins of this conflict go back thousands of years, but more recently to the experiences of World War II. This study draws out those connections by exploring the rivalries that existed during the war and how they have been translated into the current battle. Predictions about the future of this area can then be made, based on these analogies and assessments of the current conditions.