Graham
Allison and Morton Halperin in their essay "Bureaucratic Politics: A
Paradigm and Some Policy Implications" talk about how different people
have a role to play in the policy making decisions. Coining the term 'the
bureaucratic model' they go on to explain that sometimes there are several
different people each with their own interests who influence the final outcome
of any decision making. the authors go on to talk about how this whole process
as well as the final outcome affects the country's foreign policy as well as
the way it affects the other countries foreign policy.
Although
on first glance one might wonder just how powerful can outside influence be and
who are the people that are involved in the decision making that might have
more power than the Prime minister/president to shape a foreign policy
completely even if the prime minister/president does not agree with it. And who
are these people that have this power.
The
answer is that the people who have the power to influence vary from country to country.
In a country like Pakistan where the citizens believe that an attack from
neighbor India is imminent, the army plays a very important role in any and all
foreign policy decisions. In other countries like Germany the army has a less
important role, but the industrialists and other businesses might play a very
influential role.
If a
government obeys the bureaucratic model, it has its advantages and
disadvantages which again vary from country to country. For example on one hand
it could be said that because there are several parties involved in the
discussion, no extreme action will be taken because often one strong party can
be countered by several but less important party. But on the other hand it can
lead to a strong party forcing its views of other involved party and forcing
the decision to be based on their view only.
Finally
it should be noted that this model is applicable not only to democracies but to
also authoritarian regimes, thus making this essay extremely realistic and
informative to understanding just how it is that decisions are made in any
country.
Governments don't necessarily "obey" the bureaucratic model; rather, this is the model that they appear to follow because of the nature of bureaucracy. Anyhow, I agree that stronger voices get heard in these discussions, hence why you have "senior" and "junior" players in a bureaucracy. As you note, it is a useful model to use for both democracies and authoritarian regimes.
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