Washington's decision making process

There are several theories that try and explain how Washington's decision making process works. The broadest theories encompass a sort of lens of the presidential decision making process. They are The Rational actor theory, Groupthink, governmental politics, and the organizational process. There are two other general types of governmental decision making patterns that help to strengthen the application of the aforementioned theories. These patterns are known as Presidential politics, and Bureaucratic politics.

The rational actor model is the model that prevails when most people think of the president, and how decisions are made in the Whitehouse. The rational actor model is best exemplified by JFK?s actions in the Cuban Missile Crisis. This theory projects the government as extremely hierarchical. The executive branch operates according to an authority pyramid with the president on top his closets advisors just below him ect. This theory assumes that the President is in charge and ...