How do we determine whose positions count in the making of foreign policy? Does it matter how these policy makers are configured? Does the decision-making process such people engage in influence the type of policy that results? This volume synthesizes the literatures on leadership, group dynamics, organizational theory, and coalition politics to demonstrate how the nature of the decision unity shapes foreign policy.

It also synthesizes theories on leadership, group dynamics, organizational theory, and coalition politics to demonstrate how the nature of the decision unit shapes foreign policy. The authors explore how policymakers' preferences become aggregated in the foreign policymaking process when there is a predominant leader or there are single groups or coalitions.