ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the utility of the multi-level approach, which is essential for understanding the Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) agreement. It provides a framework that simultaneously incorporates and orders domestic and systemic determinants in US foreign policy. The chapter briefly assesses decision making as an approach in international relations. It examines the levels of analysis "problem", and also considers the domestic pitfalls and security opportunities that were inherent in the HEU agreement. The decision making approach suggests that state interaction at the governmental level should be supported by complementary research in the areas of domestic politics and cross-cultural and social relationships. The chapter lays some conceptual groundwork for a better understanding of the factors behind the HEU agreement negotiations, its administration, and its eventual complications. Bill Clinton's goals regarding the HEU contract were straight-forward and related directly to the American national interest, namely: democratic peace, defence conversion, and non-proliferation.
