1. WHY BRITAIN REMAINED AT PEACE: THE COGNITIVE CALCULUS THEORY AND FOREIGN POLICY DECISION-MAKING FROM THE ANSCHLUSS TO MUNICH.
- Author
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Gronich, Lori Helene
- Subjects
- *
PEACEBUILDING , *INTERNATIONAL relations , *DECISION making - Abstract
From the Anschluss to Munich, Britain pursued a policy of appeasement. The Chamberlain government responded to German advances in Central Europe by selecting policies of peace rather than policies of war. What prompted British decision-makers to choose a path of diplomacy rather than a path of military confrontation? Why did they accommodate German expansion? This paper reviews British decision-making from March to September 1938 and considers the explanatory power of the cognitive calculus theory of decision-making. It draws attention to deliberations at the top levels of government, including the Cabinet and Inner Cabinet, the Foreign Policy Committee, and the Committee on Imperial Defense, and highlights the influence of decision role, decision stage, and substantive knowledge in framing problems and selecting solutions. Demonstrating the impact of military and non-military expertise in arriving at foreign policy judgments, this paper affirms the explanatory power of the cognitive calculus theory and extends earlier work, including American and Japanese decisions for war and peace in other times and other circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2011