Who makes the decisions?

International political theory and thought has undergone massive transformation from being a very singular thought process to a multi-pronged one, that has, over time, become more whole and aware of the political factors that instigate the array of decisions that states make.

Graham Allison's and Morton Halperin's "Bureaucratic Politics: A Paradigm and Some Policy Implications", is a discussion of how the consciousness that is International relations has undergone the aforementioned transformation. Or rather, this can be seen to be an attempt to present a new focal point of studying actions of states.

Allison and Halperin first discuss the traditional “Model 1” that has been the prevalent ‘lens’ of study in the international arena. This model reduces complications and simplifies ways to examine the action of states by taking them as individual actors, and basis these decisions as actions ‘clustering’ around the alternatives that these actors may choose.

Allison and Halperin highlight how this makes analysis easier for students of international relations, but also warn us to be wary of the over simplifications and the aspects of governance that these simplifications cloak. They therefore present the ‘Bureaucratic Politics Model’, a model that likens the state to a machine with many cogs and wheels. It assumes a very holistic approach for matters of the state, taking into account factors such as intra-state political decisions versus decisions of national security. It deconstructs the state into a number of actors, and decisions are made as a compromise between the interests of these rational actors.

The bureaucratic politics model indeed presents a lens that helps us gauge the action of states better. If we take the example of national security decisions, we can see how the number of actors are dramatically reduced in such decision making processes. In America for example, the general public were of the opinion that American presence in Afghanistan was unfruitful and unjust to the people there. But the state machinery and the military deemed it best for ‘national’ security to pursue this, despite debates in parliament about the efficacy of such actions.

While importance of all actors varies in different decision making processes, it is important to note that many times the decision parameter gets skewed between the top tiers of the state. These tiers may include the government, the military, elected officials and even the common man. Decisions are, thus, the average sum of the interests of all the actors involved in making one.