Operational Code Analysis and Foreign Policy Roles: Crossing Simon’s Bridge

In this book, senior scholars and a new generation of analysts present different applications of recent advances linking beliefs and decision-making, in the area of foreign policy analysis with strategic interactions in world politics.

Divided into five parts, Part 1 identifies how the beliefs in the cognitive operational codes of individual leaders explain the political decisions of states. In Part 2, five chapters illustrate progress in comparing the operational codes of individual leaders, including Vladimir Putin of Russia, three US presidents, Bolivian president Evo Morales, Sri Lanka’s President Chandrika Kumaratunga, and various leaders of terrorist organizations operating in the Middle East and North Africa. Part 3 introduces a new Psychological Characteristics of Leaders (PsyCL) data set containing the operational codes of US presidents from the early 1800s to the present. In Part 4, the focus is on strategic interactions among dyads and evolutionary patterns among states in different regional and world systems. Part 5 revisits whether the contents of the preceding chapters support the claims about the links between beliefs and foreign policy roles in world politics.

Richly illustrated and with comprehensive analysis Operational Code Analysis and Foreign Policy Roles will be of interest to specialists in foreign policy analysis, international relations theorists, graduate students, and national security analysts in the policy-making and intelligence communities.

Mark Schafer is a Professor of Political Psychology in the School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs at the University of Central Florida working primarily in the field of international relations. His research interests include groupthink, the operational code, and psychological correlates of foreign policy behavior. He has published his research in major journals such as Journal of Politics, International Studies Quarterly, and Journal of Conflict Resolution. He received the Erik Erikson Award for Early Career Achievement from the International Society of Political Psychology in 2003, and was honored with the Distinguished Scholar Award from the Foreign Policy Analysis Section of the International Studies Association in 2021.

Stephen G. Walker is Professor Emeritus in the School of Politics and Global Studies at Arizona State University. His research interests focus on conflict management and resolution, foreign policy analysis, and political psychology. His research articles have appeared in Political Psychology, Journal of Conflict Resolution, and International Studies Quarterly. He received the Foreign Policy Section’s Distinguished Scholar Award from the International Studies Association in 2003.