Abstract
Political scientists, when analyzing decision making at the highest levels of government in the area of foreign policy, usually emphasize rationally perceived national interests and domestic politics as the primary motivations. Obscured in such scholarship are the idiosyncratic personality traits of the decision makers themselves. A comprehensive explanation of high-level decision making, however, requires that scholars look below the surface to discern the particular world-views and the psychological factors that interact with broader concerns of national interests and domestic politics to form governmental policies. These factors are most important for top decision makers in situations where they are facing crises (see Greenstein, 1967; Holsti, 1971). When major national and personal value are at stake, the ego defensive characteristic of those with the most responsibility for the national response are apt to be triggered and relevant to the policy response.
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© 1991 Plenum Press, New York
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Glad, B., Whitmore, B. (1991). Jimmy Carter and the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan. In: Offerman-Zuckerberg, J. (eds) Politics and Psychology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-5919-7_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-5919-7_8
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