A Critique of Executive Branch Decision‐Making Processes

This essay considers Robert S. McNamara’s 1995 memoir In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam. First, it explores McNamara’s Lessons to understand the dangers of military policy making conducted without genuine input from Congress. Further, it argues that the pathologies of Vietnam War decision making are not likely to be unique—that is, the realities of executive branch organization and its decision-making processes are likely to re-create those pathologies when Congress is only tenuously involved in resolving the most basic policy questions regarding any substantial military engagement. The essay asserts that the values of sound military decision-making are well served by preserving a state of ambiguity as to the allocation of military decision-making authority in all by the easiest cases. To the extent, the War Powers Resolution has helped Congress to exploit this ambiguity in leveraging its own military policy making role, it has performed a useful function.

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Executive Governance Through Enforcement

The President and Immigration Law ◽

10.1093/oso/9780190694364.003.0009 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 215-237

Author(s):

Adam B. Cox ◽

Cristina M. Rodríguez

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Rule Of Law ◽

Executive Branch ◽

Immigration Law ◽

Political Control ◽

Policy Agenda ◽

Shadow System ◽

Government Power ◽

Decision Making Processes

chapter grapples with the risks associated with executive governance through enforcement, tracing them to core and undisputed executive powers whose reach has been magnified in immigration law by the emergence of the shadow system. Two interrelated features of executive governance should prompt vigilance. First, when executive branch officials pursue a policy agenda through their management of the enforcement bureaucracy, discretionary decision-making drives their choices about how to threaten or wield force, as well as offer forbearance. It is natural to worry that this discretion will lead to the lawless, arbitrary exercise of power. Second, discretionary decision-making processes are often opaque. This feature exacerbates the possibility of abuse and makes it difficult to hold government power accountable. After defining these risks, the chapter then focuses on how the domain of de facto delegation can be structured to preserve the virtues of executive governance while promoting rule of law values. It offers a qualified defense of the centralized, political control of enforcement discretion as a means of disciplining the Executive’s awesome power.

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Cognitive Processing of Miscommunication in Interactive Listening: An Evaluation of Listener Indecision and Cognitive Effort

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/2020_jslhr-20-00128 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-17

Author(s):

Jennifer M. Roche ◽

Arkady Zgonnikov ◽

Laura M. Morett

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Cognitive Processing ◽

Language Processing ◽

Cognitive Effort ◽

Mouse Tracking ◽

Computer Mouse ◽

Decision Making Processes ◽

Computer Mouse Tracking ◽

Listening Task ◽

Processing Effort

Purpose The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the social and cognitive underpinnings of miscommunication during an interactive listening task. Method An eye and computer mouse–tracking visual-world paradigm was used to investigate how a listener's cognitive effort (local and global) and decision-making processes were affected by a speaker's use of ambiguity that led to a miscommunication. Results Experiments 1 and 2 found that an environmental cue that made a miscommunication more or less salient impacted listener language processing effort (eye-tracking). Experiment 2 also indicated that listeners may develop different processing heuristics dependent upon the speaker's use of ambiguity that led to a miscommunication, exerting a significant impact on cognition and decision making. We also found that perspective-taking effort and decision-making complexity metrics (computer mouse tracking) predict language processing effort, indicating that instances of miscommunication produced cognitive consequences of indecision, thinking, and cognitive pull. Conclusion Together, these results indicate that listeners behave both reciprocally and adaptively when miscommunications occur, but the way they respond is largely dependent upon the type of ambiguity and how often it is produced by the speaker.

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“It's Not Humanly Possible to Do Everything”: Perspectives on Intervention Decision-Making Processes of Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Perspectives on Language Learning and Education ◽

10.1044/lle22.1.13 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 22 (1) ◽

pp. 13-21 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Erinn Finke ◽

Kathryn Drager ◽

Elizabeth C. Serpentine

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Individualized Education Program ◽

Children With Autism ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Sources Of Information ◽

Individual Decision ◽

Decision Making Processes ◽

Spectrum Disorders ◽

Interview Methodology ◽

Communication Interventions

Purpose The purpose of this investigation was to understand the decision-making processes used by parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) related to communication-based interventions. Method Qualitative interview methodology was used. Data were gathered through interviews. Each parent had a child with ASD who was at least four-years-old; lived with their child with ASD; had a child with ASD without functional speech for communication; and used at least two different communication interventions. Results Parents considered several sources of information for learning about interventions and provided various reasons to initiate and discontinue a communication intervention. Parents also discussed challenges introduced once opinions of the school individualized education program (IEP) team had to be considered. Conclusions Parents of children with ASD primarily use individual decision-making processes to select interventions. This discrepancy speaks to the need for parents and professionals to share a common “language” about interventions and the decision-making process.

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