Bureaucracies at War: The Institutional Origins of Miscalculation
Tyler Jost will talk is on his new book, Bureaucracies at War: The Institutional Origins of Miscalculation (Cambridge, 2024).
Why do states start international conflicts in which they ultimately fail to achieve their goals? Why do leaders often possess inaccurate expectations of their prospects for victory? Bureaucracies at War examines how bureaucratic institutions shape the information upon which leaders base their choice for conflict – which institutional designs provide the best counsel, why those institutions perform better, and why many leaders fail to adopt them. It argues that the same institutions that provide the best information also empower the bureaucracy to punish the leader. Thus, miscalculation on the road to war is often the tragic consequence of how leaders resolve the trade-off between good information and political security.
About this Lecture
Lectures of Opportunity offers U.S. Naval War College (NWC) students, faculty, and staff an opportunity to learn more about national and international socio-political subjects that may be of relevance to the NWC community.
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