The Use of Decision Theory to Study International Influence

A theoretical analysis of national decision-making and intemation influence in terms of decision theory has been made recently by several political scientists, including Singer (1963), Glenn Snyder (1960), and Russett (1963). In fact, theoretical analy-sis in the language of decision theory seems increasingly widespread among po-litical scientists and other social scientists concerned with international affairs. This paper discusses a number of diffi-culties in the use of decision theory for ac-tual research on national decision-making. It also discusses a modification of the de-cision-theory approach which may make easier the actual measurement of theoretical variables relevant to decision-making.1