Importance Of History In Foreign Policy Decision Making

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Is history a crutch to foreign policy decision makers? The answer is yes. This, however, postulates positive and negative implications. Positively, history supports and reassures both the strategic measures taken in a decision making process, as well as the framing of the outcomes of decisions. Negatively, history can be viewed as a tool of dependence in the previous stated aspects. So yes, history is a crutch, but it also perhaps the most useful and utilized instrument in foreign policy decision-making. All dependence suggests is that when using history in decision-making, it should be done with caution and full awareness of all possible consequences and outcomes. In this essay I will argue two main reasons using history is a vital and necessary tool for …show more content…

When comparing past events to those in the present and future in foreign policy decision making, there are often difficulties walking the line between preserving historical judgment and accuracies, and tailoring the story or analysis to meet the demands of particular situations (Page, 1984). History rarely provides exact analogies, but one way they are functional is cognitive economization. For many years, foreign policy analysts primarily used the rational choice model to explain decision-making. However, research shows that people rarely conform to rational expectations, given limitations of the human mind like cognitive biases and quick intuitive processes (Stein, 2008). The cognitive psychology approach to foreign policy acknowledges the weaknesses of assuming all decision are made logically and after a deliberative process. Decision-makers’ primary cognitive vices are their tendency to seek out simplicity and consistency, and history serves to remedy these psychological conflicts that hinder the decision making

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