Applying Graham Allison's Three Models To The Cuban Missile Crisis

When discussing foreign policy it is helpful to categorize it into three measures: goals, values, and means. The political goals are what the nation’s leaders desire to attain internationally, the values are those that are held by the relevant actors involved, and the means are how such stated goals are accomplished. In attempting to explain how this creates relevant, coherent policy, Graham Allison develops three models and uses them in the case study of the Cuban Missile Crisis to demonstrate how they apply. In Allison’s explanation of his models and subsequent application of these models to the Cuban Missile Crisis, he argues that the Rational Theory model (Model I) is not a sufficient way to explain the formation of foreign policy. He argues that there are too many gaps in Model I and thus presents two models that could better represent how foreign policy is actually made. These two models are Organizational Process model (Model II) and Bureaucratic Politics model (Model III). Each focuses on the bureaucracies in government and the role they play in policy making decision. As he explains, Allison demonstrates through Model II the importance of bureaucracies as organizations and the necessity of the Standard Operating Procedures they implement to achieve their organizational goals. Model III also focuses on bureaucracies but instead
If one solely relies on the bureaucratic explanation, then high officials and leaders are relieved of any responsibility and accountability. He contends that this renders our democratic process useless since no matter who we elect will fall victim to the power of internal politics and processes. He thus argues that the power of the President is grossly underestimated in Allison’s models. The President, Krasner assures, is the ultimate decision maker, he defines what our nations values are and our foreign policy follows