The World in Their Minds: Information Processing, Cognition, and Perception in Foreign Policy Decisionmaking

By Yaacov Vertzberger

This is a comprehensive study of the dynamics that underlie information processing in foreign policy decision-making, the resultant biases and errors, and the implications for the quality of decisions. The World in Their Minds is a compendium of the manifold ways that misperception and, hence, miscalculation can enter into seemingly rational policy choice. The cases of Vietnam for the Americans and the Yom Kippur War for the Israelis constitute the primary database for the number of illustrations cited.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0804722455
• ISBN13: 9780804722452
• Release Date: November 1993
• Publisher: Stanford University Press
• Length: 460 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 1.0" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

An unjustly unknown work

In terms of decision-making in foreign policy, this work should be a classic. Vertzberger is both comprehensive as well as challenging in this book. While admittedly this is no light read, it is well worth the effort. The research possibilities that can be gleaned from Verzberger's theoretical considerations in themselves make this book worthwhile. It is a pity it is not better read and cited in the relevant literature.