Each of us makes a number of decisions, from the less important to those with far-reaching consequences. As members of different groups, we are also actors of group decision making. In order to make a rational decision, a choice-making procedure must satisfy a number of assumptions (conditions) of rationality. In addition, when it comes to group decisions, those procedures should also be ?fair.? However, it is not possible to define a procedure of choice-making that would transform individual orders of alternatives based on preferences of perfectly rational individuals into a single social order and still meet conditions of rationality and ethics. The theory of deliberative democracy appeared in response to the impossibility of Social Choice theory. The basic assumption of deliberative democracy is that individuals adjust their preferences taking into account interests of the community. They are open for discussion with other group members and are willing to change their attitudes in order to achieve common interests. Ideally, group members come to an agreement during public discussion (deliberation). Still, this concept cannot completely over?come all the difficulties posed by the theory of social choice. Specifically, there is no solution for strategic and manipulative behavior of individuals. Also, the concept of deliberative democracy faces certain problems particular to this approach, such as, to name but a few, problems with the establishment of equality of participants in the debate and their motivation, as well as problems with the organization of public hearings.
How do terrorists & terrorist groups make decisions, & what influence do terrorist decision-making styles have on the course of a terrorist campaign? Efforts to answer these questions have centered on three sets of theories. In order of generality, these are (a) strategic theories, in which the decision to employ terrorism & related forms of political violence is considered to be an instrumental choice; (b) organizational theories, in which the sources of violence are found in the internal dynamics of the terrorist group itself; & (c) psychological theories, in which the decision to employ terrorism is explained within the framework of individual psychology. Most observers agree that these lines of inquiry are not mutually exclusive, but each offers a distinctive approach to terrorist decision making. This essay examines each of these theoretical approaches in turn. It concludes with a brief discussion of the decision-making constraints that help shape terrorist life cycles. 1 Figure, 224 References. Adapted from the source document.
A synthesis of the work of three noted authors provides a framework for collaborative decisions built on the foundation of decision analysis. A Nobel Prize winner provides a psychological foundation for the framework, an authority on harnessing the collective wisdom of organizations argues for the necessity of a mechanism for the aggregation of the decision makers' understandings, and a former senior executive for a Fortune 500 company describes a series of structured dialogues that supports the aggregation of understandings. The resulting collaborative decision process aggregates, rather than compromises, the understandings of decision makers. It makes explicit the aggregation of individuals' understandings of the frame of the decision to be made, the alternatives to be considered, the sources of value and risk, and, finally, the reasons for the resulting collaborative choice. In collaborative decision making, we do not strive for an optimum, a compromise, or a satisficing solution. Rather, collaborative decision making results in a significantly more valuable choice than the alternatives envisioned by any of the decision makers through the aggregation understandings. Though the collaborative choice was not envisioned by the decision makers, each feels ownership of it and explicitly agrees to implement it.