Barack Obama’s Foreign Policy Decision Calculus
How Do Leaders Make Decisions?
ISBN: 978-1-78743-394-6, eISBN: 978-1-78743-393-9
Publication date: 23 September 2019
Abstract
In this chapter, I analyze former US president Barack Obama’s foreign policy decision-making process during his two terms of presidency between the years 2008 and 2016. The analysis covers six decisions with an emphasis on decisions concerning conflicts that embodied a potential for the use of force.
Using the Applied Decision Analysis (ADA) method, I find that Barack Obama’s decision-making pattern in these decisions fits the poliheuristic decision theory, where the domestic politics dimension constitutes a non-compensatory dimension. By understanding President Obama’s use of the poliheuristic decision code, this study can offer an explanation to his willingness to use force in some cases, and his avoidance of the use of force in others.
Keywords
Citation
Davidovich, I. (2019), "Barack Obama’s Foreign Policy Decision Calculus", How Do Leaders Make Decisions? (Contributions to Conflict Management, Peace Economics and Development, Vol. 28A), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 35-65. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1572-832320190000028005
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019 Emerald Publishing Limited