Abstract
The scholarship of Alexander L. George identifies central puzzles in political psychology and international relations. This essay reviews his pioneering work on personality and foreign policy behavior, cognition and foreign policy behavior, decision making, the importance of “substantive theory” in the explanation of foreign policy behavior, “process theory” and the explanation of decision making, and “policy-relevant theory” that bridges the gap between the academic and policy communities. In his scholarship, George defined an enduring blueprint for the study of the psychology of international relations and simultaneously built bridges across disciplines. George is architect, engineer, and community-builder in political psychology.
Alexander and Juliette George graciously agreed to talk with me about the development of their work. This text was first published as: “An Agenda for Political Psychology: Alexander George as Architect, Engineer and Community-Builder,” Political Psychology, vol. 15, no. 1, 1994, pp. 1–15.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Craig, Gordon and Alexander L. George. 1983. Force and statecraft: Diplomatic problems of our time. New York: Oxford University Press. German edition in 1984. Second edition in 1990.
George, Alexander L. 1993a. ed. Coercive diplomacy. Boulder, CO.: Westview Press.
George, Alexander L. 1993b. Bridging and gap: Theory and practice of foreign policy. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Institute of Peace.
George, Alexander L. 1991a. Forceful persuasion: Coercive diplomacy as an alternative to war. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Institute of Peace.
George, Alexander L. 1991b. Avoiding war: Problems of crisis management. Boulder, CO.: Westview Press.
George, Alexander L. 1988. The president and the management of foreign policy: Styles and models. In The domestic sources of American foreign policy, ed. C.W. Kegley and E.R. Wittkopf, 107–126. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
George, Alexander L. 1987. Ideology and international relations: A conceptual analysis. Jerusalem Journal of International Relations 9: 1–21.
George, Alexander L. 1986. The impact of crisis-induced stress on decisionmaking. The medical implications of nuclear war. National Academy of Sciences, 529–552. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.
George, Alexander L. 1984a. Crisis management: The interaction of political and military considerations. Survival 26: 223–234.
George, Alexander L. 1984b. Criteria for evaluation of foreign policy decisionmaking. Global Perspectives 2: 58–69.
George, Alexander L. 1983a. Presidential management styles and models, 466–493. In Perspectives on American foreign policy, ed. Charles W. Kegley, Jr., and Eugene Wittkopf. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
George, Alexander L. 1983b. Managing U.S.-Soviet rivalry: Problems of crisis prevention. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
George, Alexander L. 1982. Towards a Soviet-American crisis prevention regime: History and prospects, 189–208. In National security and international stability, ed. Bernard Brodie, Michael D. Intriligator, and Roman Kolkowicz. Cambridge, Mass.: Oelgeschlager, Gunn, & Hain.
George, Alexander L. 1980a. Presidential decision-making in foreign policy: Making better use of information and advice. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
George, Alexander L. 1980b. Domestic constraints on regime change in U.S. foreign policy: The need for policy legitimacy, 233–262. In Change in the international system, ed. O.R. Holsti, R.M. Siverson, and A.L. George. Boulder, CO.: Westview Press.
George, Alexander L. 1979a. The causal nexus between cognitive beliefs and decision-making behavior: The “operational code” belief system. In Psychological models in international politics, ed. L. Falkowski, 95–124. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
George, Alexander L. 1979b. Case studies and theory development: The method of structured focused comparison. In Diplomatic history: New approaches, ed. Paul G. Lauren, 43–68. New York: Free Press.
George, Alexander L. 1976. Bridging the gap between theory and practice. In In search of global patterns, ed. James Rosenau, 114–119. New York: Free Press.
George, Alexander L. 1974a. Assessing presidential character. World Politics 26: 234–282.
George, Alexander L. 1974b. Adaptation to stress in political decisionmaking: The individual, small group, and organizational contexts. In Coping and adaptation, ed. G.V. Coelho, D.A. Hamburg, and J. Adams, 176–248. New York: Basic Books.
George, Alexander L. 1972. The case for multiple advocacy in making foreign policy. American Political Science Review 66: 751–785, 791–795.
George, Alexander L. 1971. Some uses of dynamic psychology in political biography: Case materials on Woodrow Wilson. In A source book for the study of personality and politics, ed. F.I. Greenstein and M. Lerner, 78–98. Chicago: Markham.
George, Alexander L. 1969. The “operational code”: A neglected approach to the study of political leaders and decision-making. International Studies Quarterly 13: 190–222.
George, Alexander L. 1968. Power as a compensatory value for political leaders. Journal of Social Issues 24: 29–49.
George, Alexander L. 1958. Propaganda analysis: A study of inferences made from Nazi propaganda in World War II. New York: Row, Peterson.
George, Alexander L. et al. 1976. Towards a more soundly based foreign policy: Making better use of information. Vol. 2 of the Commission on the Organization of the Government for the Conduct of Foreign Policy. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.
George, Alexander L., Philip Farley, and Alexander Dallin. 1988. U.S.-Soviet security cooperation. New York: Oxford University Press.
George, Alexander L., and Juliette L. George. 1973. Psycho-McCarthyism. Psychology Today 7: 94–98.
George, Alexander L. 1956. Woodrow Wilson and Colonel House: A personality study. New York: John Day.
George, Alexander L., David K. Hall, and William Simons. 1971. The limits of coercive diplomacy: Laos, Cuba, and Vietnam. Boston: Little, Brown.
George, Alexander L., and Timothy J. McKeown. 1985. Case studies and theories of organizational decisionmaking. Advances in Information Processing in Organizations 2: 21–58.
George, Alexander L., and Richard Smoke. 1974. Deterrence in American foreign policy. New York: Columbia University Press.
George, Juliette and Alexander L. George. 1981–82. Woodrow Wilson and Colonel House: A reply to Weinstein, Anderson, and Link. Political Science Quarterly 96: 641–665.
George, Juliette, Michael F. Marmor, and Alexander L. George. 1984. Research note: Issues in Wilson scholarship: References to early “strokes” in the papers of Woodrow Wilson. Journal of American History 70: 845–853.
Greenstein, Fred I. 1992. Can personality and politics be studied systematically? Political Psychology 13: 105–128.
Greenstein, Fred I. 1975. Personality and politics, 1–92. In The handbook of political science: Micropolitical theory 2, ed. F.I. Greenstein and N.W. Polsby. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley.
Greenstein, Fred I. 1969. Personality and politics: Problems of evidence, inference, and conceptualization. Chicago: Markham.
Hamburg, David A., and Alexander L. George. 1984. Nuclear crisis management. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 40: 24–28.
Holsti, Ole R. 1967. Cognitive dynamics and images of the enemy: Dulles and Russia, 25–96. In Enemies in politics, ed. D.J. Finlay, O.R. Holsti, and R.R. Fagen. Chicago: Rand McNally.
Holsti, Ole R., and Alexander L. George. 1975. The effects of stress on the performance of foreign policymakers. In Political Science Annual 6, Individual Decision-making, ed. C.P. Cotter. New York: Bobbs-Merrill.
Khong, Yuen Foong. 1992. Analogies at war: Korea, Munich, Dien Bien Phu, and the Vietnam decisions of 1965. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Lasswell, Harold. 1948. Power and personalitiy. New York: Norton.
Leites, Nathan. 1951. The operational code of the politburo. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Leites, Nathan. 1953. A study of bolshevism. New York: Free Press.
Runyon, W.M. 1982. Life histories and psychobiography: Explorations in theory and method. New York: Oxford University Press.
Smoke, Richard, and Alexander L. George. 1973. Theory for policy in international affairs. Policy Sciences 4: 387–413.
Starr, H. 1984. Henry Kissinger: Perceptions of international politics. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky.
Walker, S.G. 1977. The interface between beliefs and behavior: Henry Kissinger’s operational code and the Vietnam War. Journal of Conflict Resolution 31: 129–168.
Walker, S.G., and L. Falkowski. 1984. The operational codes of U.S. presidents and secretaries of state: Motivational foundations and behavioral consequences. Political Psychology 5: 35–51.
Weinstein, Edwin A., James William Anderson, and Arthur S. Link. 1978–1979. Woodrow Wilson’s political personality: A reappraisal. Political Science Quarterly 93: 585–598.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Stein, J.G. (2019). Alexander George as Architect, Engineer and Community-Builder. In: Caldwell, D. (eds) Alexander L. George: A Pioneer in Political and Social Sciences. Pioneers in Arts, Humanities, Science, Engineering, Practice, vol 15. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90772-7_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90772-7_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-90771-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-90772-7
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)