In eight pages Graham Allison's models of decision making are applied to the U.S. decision to bomb Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in order to understand the decision making processes that were involved. Five sources are cited in the bibliography.
Name of Research Paper File: D0_GSGraAll.rtf
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order to understand why the United States decided to use the atomic bomb on Japan, it helps to examine the reasons according to Graham Allisons three models, which are rational
actor, organizational, and governmental. The rational actor model (RAM) is useful because it is able to explain, in most basic terms, an international crisis (Model Theory, 2002). The
basic assumption of this model is that the nationals will act rationally (Model Theory, 2002). In the rational paradigm, all
actions are intentional; everything someone does is purposeful (Bureaucratic Politics Module, 2002). In the case of Japan and the atomic bomb, there were two actors: the United States
and Japan. So basically, according to this model the president had to rationally consider the possible courses of action.
First, we could do nothing. We could drop the bomb. Furthermore, each of these alternatives must be judged against a set of criteria (loss of lives, cost in
dollars, domestic political response, retaliation, etc.) (Bureaucratic Politics Module, 2002). Clearly, each of these actors has a different agenda and objective in terms of their actions.
"To achieve the desired goals or maximize utility, an actor must choose among certain alternatives" (Model Theory, 2002). The alternative which will
be chosen is the one which maximizes the most amount of utility (Model Theory, 2002). Therefore, it can be said that RAM is useful in predicting behavior (Model Theory,
2002). RAM links behavior with action, and therefore one can examine past action in order to predict future action (Model Theory, 2002). "When an actor knows the goals