State Analysis, State Analysis, Individual Analysis

In his 2003 public statement, President Bush gave three reasons for going to war with Iraq and force out Saddam Hussein. His first reason being was to eliminate Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction, Secondly to diminish the threat of international terrorism; and last to promote democracy in Iraq and the surrounding areas. To analyze the best reason as to why the US went to war with Iraq we must discuss the levels of analysis; system –level, state-level and individual level. The definition of system level is “System-level analysis focuses on the external restraints on foreign policy” (Rourke and Boyer 69). The United States is unipolar but even though they have power when it comes to going to war they have other countries to back them up if they go to war. Iraq does not have anyone to help them for war with the U.S. The system-level analysis would be of greater importance in analyzing trade and the world economic system, as it takes into account all nations and their effects on the world economy, but concerning America 's Foreign Policy, as America has no interest in the International Community 's approval, this level of analyzing is not the one to use. The next analysis Individual-level analysis “begins with the view that at the root it is people who make policy” (Rourke and Boyer 69). This approach begins by identifying the characteristics of the complex process of human decision making which includes gathering information, analyzing that information, establishing goals, pondering options, and making policy choices. The human role in the world drama can be addressed from three different perspectives: human nature, organizational behavior, and behavior. Human nature involves the way in which human characteristics affect decisions. Organizational behavior looks at how humans interact within organized settings, such as a decision-making group. Idiosyncratic behavior explores how the peculiarities of individual decision makers affect

Cited: Griffiths, Martin. Fifty Key Thinkers in International Relations. London: Routledge, 1999. 32. Rourke, John, and Mark Boyer. International Politics on the World Stage. 8th. New York: McGraw - Hill Higher Education, 2010 Krasner, Stephen D. 1985. Structural Conflict. 1985. Berkeley: University of California Press. Michael W. Doyle, “A Liberal View: Preserving and Expanding the Liberal Pacific Union,” T. V. Paul and John A. Hall, ed. International Order and the Future of World Politics, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 1999, pp