Presents a psychological approach to foreign policy decision making. This approach focuses on the decision process, dynamics, and outcome.

Alex Mintz is Dean of the Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy and Strategy at IDC-Herzliya, Israel. He is editor of the journal Political Psychology, former co-editor of Foreign Policy Analysis and associate editor of the Journal of Conflict Resolution. Mintz was the 2005 recipient of the Distinguished Scholar Award for distinguished contribution to the field from the Foreign Policy Analysis section of the International Studies Association (ISA). He has published, edited, or co-edited nine books and is the author of multiple journal articles.

Part I. Introduction: 1. Why study foreign policy from a decision making perspective?; Part II. The Decision Environment: 2. Types of decisions and levels of analysis in foreign policy decision making; 3. Biases in decision making; Part III. Models of Decision Making: 4. The rational actor model; 5. Alternatives to the rational actor model; Part IV. Determinants of Foreign Policy Decision Making: 6. Psychological factors shaping foreign policy decisions; 7. International, domestic and cultural factors influencing foreign policy decision making; Part V. Marketing Foreign Policy: 8. Marketing, framing and media effects in foreign policy decision making; Part VI. Conclusion: 9. Conclusion: wrapping things up; Appendix: an applied decision analysis exercise and simulation.