ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the occurrence of a foreign policy crisis is likely to lead to centralization of decision-making because of the threat that is posed to a country's basic values. It investigates theoretical approaches to analyzing the performance of individuals and small groups in times of crisis. The chapter identifies two specific theoretical approaches that will be used to analyze British decision-making during the Suez crisis. Groupthink theory will be utilized to assess the performance of small groups. The so-called Operational Code technique will be applied to studying the behaviour of a small group's leader. The informal and formal rules of parliamentary democracy in Great Britain provide the institutional constraints within which small groups and leaders have to operate. The chapter concludes with a methodological section in which specific choices are explained that are necessary to conduct the empirical research.
