How Leaders Reason: U.S. Intervention in the Caribbean Basin and Latin America

by Alex Roberto Hybel

History is full of instances in which piolitical leaders have looked to resolve problems by resorting to solutions used in earlier thus, for instance, the sending of US troops into Nicaragua to topple the newly established Sandanista regime was affected by the lessons of Vietnam. Analogies can be rishky guides to political decision-making, but they are nonetheless the means most commonly used for defining problems which influence the way alternatives are abstracted and choices made. In this study Hybel presents and analogical theory of foreign policy-making by using as case studies the experience of US intervention in the Carribbean and Latin America, including such arena as Guatemala, Cuba, Chile, Nicaragua and Grenada. Both theoretically and empirically, the book offers a major contribution to the study and understanding of foreign policy.

320 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1990