The Evolution of Operational Code Analysis Classics in Political Psychology The Evolution of Operational Code Analysis1

Abstract

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. Operational code analysis has evolved from a classic work by Nathan Leites, A Study of Bolshevism (1953), in which he first analyzed the operational code of the Politburo as a mix of cognitive heuristics and characterological personality traits that influenced Soviet decision making. Alexander George and Ole Holsti then isolated the cognitive aspects of the operational code construct and conceptualized them as a typology of political belief systems. Other scholars have applied this typology to explain the link between the be-liefs and behavior of American foreign policymakers. The mixed results from these efforts have led to a revival of interest in the relationship between the cognitive and the characterological dimensions of operational code analysis. The aim of contemporary operational code analysis is a theo-retical synthesis of the cognitive and affective influences upon foreign poli-cy decisions identified by middle-range cognitive and motivational theories of political psychology.