[International System] → [State/Society Characteristics] → [Decision-Making Process] → [Foreign Policy Action] → [Outcome & Feedback]
A Search for Structure in a Chaotic World For students first dipping their toes into the vast ocean of global affairs, the discipline of International Relations (IR) can feel overwhelming. Wars erupt, alliances shift, economies crash, and diplomats issue communiques that seem designed to obscure rather than clarify. In the middle of this chaos, the novice analyst asks a desperate question: Where do I even start? Now, you do the analysis
Holsti consciously avoids offering a deterministic theory that predicts outcomes. A theory (like Waltz's Neorealism) tries to say: "Under condition X, outcome Y will always happen." A framework, by contrast, says: "Here are the variables you need to look at. Here is how they usually interact. Now, you do the analysis." Now, you do the analysis
The answer is: