ABSTRACT
Graham Allison's book Essence of Decision changed the way in which academic analysts think about how governments make major foreign and defense policy decisions. Before Allison's book appeared in 1971, even the leading writers on foreign policy tended to describe and explain governmental decisions almost exclusively as if governments were rational human beings making carefully considered choices among available options. Virtually all of the published studies have focused on a foreign or defense policy decision or series of decisions that can be characterized as "major." These studies involve national or international crises, procurement of major weapons systems, or major international negotiations. Understandably, few scholars have chosen to examine the process of governmental decisions in which much less is at stake. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
