SSS Yet To Be Done.
https://gametheory101.com/courses/international-relations-101/the-unitary-actor-assumption/
The Unitary Actor Assumption
To model war, we first need to make assumptions…
Takeaway Points
- The unitary actor assumption treats states as a single entity that tries to maximize national interest, broadly defined. (Thus, “national interest” could mean the states are very benevolent.)
- Thus, we rule out political cleavages between leaders and their citizens.
- While such cleavages certainly exist, they will exist simultaneously with the problems we will be discussing in this unit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGJ09z59_m0&list=PLB5965C13F4B0B2DA
0:01 - hi I'm William spaniel let's learn about
0:03 - international relations today's topic is
0:05 - the unitary actor assumption this is
0:07 - actually something that I address in
0:08 - chapter one of my new book The
0:10 - rationality of War if you're watching
0:12 - this on YouTube you can go to the video
0:14 - description and click on the link on
0:15 - Amazon and that will allow you to then
0:18 - click on the look inside feature at
0:20 - which point you'll be able to read this
0:22 - first chapter for free but that aside
0:25 - let's actually get to what we're talking
0:27 - about today so remember in this unit
0:28 - we're talking about the origin of war
0:31 - and before we were talking about war a
0:32 - little bit more generally but for this
0:33 - unit we're actually going to be
0:35 - narrowing our our interest into this
0:37 - specific question can two perfectly
0:39 - intelligent perfectly unbiased leaders
0:41 - fight a war against each other and we
0:43 - call this sort of the the unitary actor
0:45 - assumption in political science so we're
0:47 - going to assume throughout this unit
0:48 - that states are single entities and
0:50 - their leaders are only interested in
0:51 - maximizing the overall welfare of the
0:53 - states so if you recall back to unit one
0:56 - we talked about this recipe for our
0:59 - formal strategic models our first step
1:01 - was to create some assumptions our
1:02 - second step was to do some math and our
1:04 - third step was to reach some logically
1:06 - valid conclusions and so the assumption
1:08 - that we're creating here is just this
1:09 - unitary actor assumption that states are
1:11 - just one entity and the reason that we
1:13 - do that is because it would be really
1:14 - interesting if we could find out ways
1:16 - that perfectly intelligent perfectly
1:18 - unbiased leaders would fight each other
1:20 - because if those guys are fighting each
1:22 - other then certainly our unbi rather our
1:24 - biased leaders and our unintelligent
1:26 - leaders are definitely going to be
1:27 - getting into fights so if we can find
1:29 - out these reasons why these intelligence
1:31 - guys intelligent guys would be fighting
1:33 - then we're going to learn something
1:34 - about these unintelligent guys as well
1:37 - um specifically about this unitary actor
1:38 - assumption is it true all of the time
1:40 - definitely not is it true some of the
1:42 - time maybe but the important thing about
1:44 - these unitary actor assumptions or this
1:46 - unitary actor explanation for war is
1:48 - that When leaders try to justify Wars to
1:51 - their domestic populace they will tell
1:54 - you rationalist explanations that use
1:57 - this unitary actor assumption so it's
1:59 - very important that we understand what's
2:00 - going on with these unary actor beliefs
2:03 - because that's how our our leaders are
2:04 - actually feeding us these wars so to see
2:07 - how this works think about some things
2:08 - that you'll never hear a leader say
2:10 - you'll never hear a leader say that I
2:12 - really suck at running our domestic
2:14 - economy so I'm going to go out and fight
2:15 - a war to distract you from how poorly
2:17 - this economy is running and maybe you'll
2:19 - see that I'm a war hero and then you'll
2:21 - reelect me anyway you'll never hear a
2:23 - leader say that you'll also never hear a
2:25 - leader say that the media is too
2:26 - interested in a sex scandal involving
2:28 - some intern I never slept with so I'm
2:30 - going to bomb some random countries in
2:31 - Africa you've never heard of you will
2:33 - never hear a leader say that some things
2:36 - that you will hear a leader say however
2:37 - is that this war is in the best interest
2:40 - of our national security or they'll say
2:43 - that we have a moral obligation we have
2:46 - a moral obligation to intervene or they
2:49 - might say that stabilizing the region
2:50 - will secure our economic interests what
2:54 - they're going for here is Broad support
2:56 - that this is in the best interest of the
2:58 - country it's all about we together or us
3:00 - or our interest it's never about an
3:02 - individual it's always about the
3:04 - collective so these are how these sorts
3:06 - of explanations are these are the
3:08 - reasons that leaders give us for war are
3:10 - these unitary actor reasons so in some
3:13 - it's about we and not me and so that
3:15 - means we should be applying this unitary
3:17 - actor assumption so to justify why we're
3:19 - going to be doing it well the unitary
3:21 - actor assumption allows us to analyze
3:23 - the validity of these sorts of
3:24 - explanations that our leaders feed us
3:26 - and then the second thing another reason
3:28 - why we should be interested in these
3:29 - unary actor assumptions is that the war
3:32 - dynamics that we discuss afterward after
3:35 - we get past this unitary actor
3:36 - assumption video when we start
3:38 - discussing the actual explanations for
3:39 - war well regardless of whether states
3:42 - are unitary actors or they have domestic
3:43 - political cleavages the leaders of those
3:45 - countries are going to be faced with
3:47 - these same sort of conundrums that we'll
3:49 - see in the unitary actor models but it's
3:51 - going to be easier to isolate these
3:53 - factors that I'm talking about without
3:54 - the domestic cleavages basically why
3:56 - throw in additional difficult work for
3:59 - us to do when we can get the same result
4:01 - out of a simpler model and so that's
4:03 - another reason that we're going to be
4:04 - using this unitary actor assumption is
4:05 - because it's going to be easier to get
4:07 - at these fundamental issues that cause
4:09 - War when there are fewer guys running
4:11 - around when it's just the president of
4:12 - two countries and not the president and
4:15 - his vice president and the republicans
4:17 - in Congress and so forth if it's just
4:19 - one guy on each side much easier to
4:21 - figure out these sorts of of reasons why
4:23 - States fight Wars and so that wraps up
4:25 - this unitary actor assumption and in the
4:28 - next video we'll actually start talking
4:29 - about something interesting called Wars
4:31 - inefficiency puzzle I hope you join me
4:33 - then take
4:36 - care
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``0-9``A
Advice and Consent: Unitary Actors, Advisory Models, and Experimental Tests
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