ABSTRACT
Richard Herrmann’s contribution in this book goes beyond the traditional theories of international relations – realism and liberalism – and points to the limitations of these rationalist frameworks. Psychological mechanisms such as perceptions and misperceptions, imperfect signaling, propaganda, cognitive shortcuts like attribution biases and schemata, as well as emotional – or as Herrmann calls it – ‘motivated’ reasoning ought to complement the traditional analysis in international relations, he would argue. Herrmann builds upon the literature that Robert Jervis started in the 1970s (Jervis, 1976). Empirically, Herrmann uses the crisis in Ukraine to explain these psychological concepts. This chapter tries to integrate the classic theories of international relations and Herrmann’s psychological framework by explaining the Ukrainian crisis and its genesis in more detail.
