International Relations under Risk: Framing State Choice

✍ Scribed by Jeffrey D. Berejikian

• Publisher: SUNY Press
• Year: 2004
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 168
• Series: SUNY series in Global Politics
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Argues that international relations ought to be anchored in realistic models of human decision making.

The field of international relations is only now beginning to take notice of cognitive models of decision making. Arguing against the trend of adopting formalistic depictions of human choice, Berejikian suggests that international relations and realistic models of human decision making go hand-in-hand. The result is a set of interconnected propositions that provide compelling new insights into state behavior. Utilizing this framework, he discusses the behavior of the United States and Europe in negotiating the Montreal Protocol, a landmark international agreement designed to save the earth's protective ozone shield.

“This book challenges the rational choice assumptions that undergird much of the extant international relations literature on deterrence, bargaining, cooperation, economic behavior, and the exercise of power [and] Berejikian clearly succeeds in his effort to demonstrate the value of integrating empirical observations from cognitive psychology into our models of state interaction.” — Perspectives on Politics

"A very well-written, empirically-grounded contribution to the literature on prospect theory in international relations. If the use of psychological models in international relations is going to advance, it is just this kind of work, integrating disparate issues into a comprehensive theoretical explication, that will lead the way." — Rose McDermott, author of Risk-Taking in International Politics: Prospect Theory in American Foreign Policy

"Berejikian goes far beyond previous attempts to apply prospect theory to international relations. This book is a useful addition to this rising research program, particularly the application to the EU and the US in the Montreal Protocol." — Jack S. Levy, author of War in the Modern Great Power System, 1495–1975

Jeffrey D. Berejikian is Assistant Professor of International Affairs at the University of Georgia.

✦ Table of Contents

International Relations under Risk: Framing State Choice......Page 4
Contents......Page 8
Preface and Acknowledgments......Page 14
INTRODUCTION......Page 16
COGNITION AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS THEORY......Page 18
PROSPECT THEORY......Page 21
ASSESSMENT......Page 25
CHAPTER SUMMARY......Page 26
ARGUMENTS AGAINST PROSPECT THEORY......Page 30
PROSPECT THEORY AND THE STUDYOF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS......Page 37
CONCLUSION......Page 44
STATUS QUO, SUBJECTIVITY, AND DECISION FRAMES......Page 46
POWER AND COERCION......Page 49
MILITARY DETERRENCE......Page 50
TWO-LEVEL ECONOMIC THREAT MODEL......Page 57
THE FAILURE OF SANCTIONS......Page 62
CONCLUSION......Page 63
PROPOSITIONS ON NEGOTIATION AND COOPERATION......Page 66
COOPERATION AND THE PRISONER’S DILEMMA......Page 69
IS COOPERATION RISKY OR SAFE?......Page 70
STRATEGIC CHOICE......Page 72
COOPERATION AND THE TRAGEDY OF THE COMMONS......Page 76
CONCLUSION......Page 79
THE GAINS DEBATE......Page 80
THE PROBLEM OF FIXED PREFERENCES......Page 82
CONSTRUCTIVISM AND THE GAINS DEBATE......Page 85
UNIFYING PREFERENCES......Page 86
POWER, PREFERENCES, AND STRATEGIES......Page 91
CONCLUSION......Page 93
BACKGROUND......Page 96
FOREIGN POLICY IN A COMMUNITY......Page 97
THE DECISION FRAME PRIOR TO VIENNA......Page 99
RELATIVE OR ABSOLUTE GAINS?......Page 100
THE FORMATION OF A LOSSES FRAME......Page 103
THE EUROPEAN GAMBLE......Page 108
CONCLUSION......Page 110
BACKGROUND......Page 114
BANNING CFCS PRIOR TO A DECISION FRAME......Page 115
AMERICAN PASSIVITY......Page 119
THE ALLIANCE FOR CFCS......Page 121
AN INADVERTENT LOSSES FRAME......Page 123
THE MOVE TO MULTILATERALISM:VIENNA AND MONTREAL......Page 125
CONCLUSION......Page 127
PREFERENCES AND FRAMES......Page 130
REALISM AND COOPERATION......Page 131
RISK ACCEPTANCE, COOPERATION, AND REGIME DESIGN......Page 132
POWER, LEVERAGE, AND DOMESTIC WIN-SETS......Page 133
THE “OZONE HOLE”......Page 134
THE PROMISE OF A COGNITIVE RESEARCH PROGRAM......Page 136
Notes......Page 138
References......Page 148
List of Titles in the SUNY series in Global Politics......Page 160
E......Page 164
R......Page 165
W......Page 166