Bismark's Rationality and Its Consequences
| Instrumentally Rational Behavior . | Why Procedural Rationality Is Necessary . | Examples from Bismark's Pre-unification Foreign Policy . |
|---|---|---|
| Utility maximization | Willingness to admit that constraints require trade-offs; deliberate about what constitutes truly vital interests | Form alliances with unpalatable domestic and foreign policy partners; undermine conservative legitimist principles for greater goal of Prussian interests |
| Situational judgments | Conscious eschewing of heuristics that serve as general principles of conduct; rely on data-driven deliberation rather than simple theory-driven processing | Advocate aggression against Austria and then pull back in the wake of victory; limit gains based on the power to consolidate |
| Long-term thinking | Deliberation to think through the consequences of impulsive action; objective recognition of trade-off between “two selves” | Avoid making an enemy of Austria for short-term gains of expansion; pursue pragmatic peace with liberals in Prussia to consolidate new German state |
| Strategic understanding | Objectivity to judge our actions as others see them not as we wish to be seen; deliberation to put oneself in another's position | Limit territorial gains to avoid broader European intervention in wake of the Austro-Prussian War |
| Instrumentally Rational Behavior . | Why Procedural Rationality Is Necessary . | Examples from Bismark's Pre-unification Foreign Policy . |
|---|---|---|
| Utility maximization | Willingness to admit that constraints require trade-offs; deliberate about what constitutes truly vital interests | Form alliances with unpalatable domestic and foreign policy partners; undermine conservative legitimist principles for greater goal of Prussian interests |
| Situational judgments | Conscious eschewing of heuristics that serve as general principles of conduct; rely on data-driven deliberation rather than simple theory-driven processing | Advocate aggression against Austria and then pull back in the wake of victory; limit gains based on the power to consolidate |
| Long-term thinking | Deliberation to think through the consequences of impulsive action; objective recognition of trade-off between “two selves” | Avoid making an enemy of Austria for short-term gains of expansion; pursue pragmatic peace with liberals in Prussia to consolidate new German state |
| Strategic understanding | Objectivity to judge our actions as others see them not as we wish to be seen; deliberation to put oneself in another's position | Limit territorial gains to avoid broader European intervention in wake of the Austro-Prussian War |