Graham T. Allison Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Graham T. Allison - Research Paper Example national security and defense policy with a special interest in terrorism. He was an assistant secretary of defense in the first Clinton Administration. As director of BCSIA, Dr. Allison has assembled a team of more than two dozen leading scholars and practitioners of national security to analyze terrorism in its multiple dimensions†2. He catapulted to fame from the books that he wrote all involving foreign policy decision making, terrorism, and other conceptual models that became bestsellers. Contributions In the field of public management, Lynn (2001) cited the contention of Allision in a seminal article that emphasized, ‘The effort to develop public management as a field of knowledge should start from problems faced by practicing public managers’3 .From among his notable books were: his first book, the â€Å"Essence ofDecision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis (1971), was released in anupdated and revised second edition (1999) and ranks among the all-time be stsellerswith more than 450,000 copies in print. His latest book, Nuclear Terrorism:The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe, is now in its third printing and wasselected by the New York Times as oneof the ‘100 most notable books of 2004’†4.The three models of decision-making were deemed to be based on different levels of analysis. The Rational Actor or Unitary Government model assumed that the presence of the following factors: â€Å"unitary optimizing actor; government as a black box; government processes information according to the rules of optimizing rational action; complete information;and the internal structure of decision-making are based on rationality†5. The Organizational Process Model takes into perspectives the goals of the organization to be well defined and established; the choices are restricted on SOPs; where mission statements are explicitly stated and strategies and policies are directed towards the defined mission; and activities are depend ent on the resources and budget of the organization. Finally, the Governmental Politics Model, also called bureaucratic politics or government bargaining model, identified assumptions that focused on key individual decision makers as the unit of analysis; consider both formal and informal networks of power and communication as contributory and influential in decision-making; and where government action presupposed political bargaining process has been undertaken by various key players; to name a few. The different books that have contributed to expanding the knowledge of practitioners in the field of public management and foreign policy decision making are as follows: Avoiding Nuclear Anarchy; Bureaucratic Politics; Conceptual Models and the Cuban Missile Crisis; Essence of Decision; Fateful Visions; Remaking foreign policy; Windows of Opportunity and the latest, Nuclear Terrorism:The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe6 . The Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs John F. Kennedy School of Government (BCSIA) (2004) has acknowledged the recognition and awards attributted to Allison as follows: â€Å"He served as Special Advisor to the Secretary of Defense under President Reagan and as Assistant Secretary of Defense in the first Clinton Administration, during which Dr. Allison received the Defense Department's highest civilian award, the Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service, for "reshaping relations

Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and Essay - 7

Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence - Essay Example Many people have shown their love and respect for this monument because of his intelligence and wisdom and this makes me appreciate him a lot. The success story of Jobs has caught my attention for years and it has become an inspiration for me to better my own life. I may not be as talented and intelligent as Jobs but I believe that with perseverance, determination and diligence, I can create my success story like my inspiration. This is the reason why I am so interested in business. Currently, business is getting global which makes it become a better place for potential businessmen to show their talents and skills and for one to be given a fair chance of showing what he has got. With the inspiration Jobs has impressed in me, I look forward to finishing my studies and starting my own career that I believe would propel me to great heights of financial