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Events • October 3, 2023 

# How States Think: The Rationality of Foreign Policy 

Are states rational? Much of international relations theory assumes that they are. But many scholars believe that political leaders rarely act rationally. John J. Mearsheimer will argue that rational decisions in international politics rest on credible theories about how the world works and emerge from deliberative decisionmaking processes. Using these criteria, he will describe how most states are rational most of the time, even if they are not always successful, and will discuss implications for formulating foreign policy. Join Mearsheimer and Ashley Tellis, a scholar with extensive policy experience, for a discussion of whether states behave rationally.

[![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) 
This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/). 

##### Featuring 

![John J. Mearsheimer - cropped](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2023-09/Mearsheimer-cropped.jpg?itok=N4xGBNvc) 

##### John J. Mearsheimer 

Coauthor and R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor, University of Chicago

![Ashley Tellis - cropped](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2023-09/a-Tellis-cropped.jpg?itok=5CO1-ehL) 

##### Ashley Tellis 

Senior Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

[![Justin Logan cropped portrait new](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2023-08/Justin-Logan-cropped.jpg?itok=1xXiDWfG)](/people/justin-logan) 

##### [Justin Logan](/people/justin-logan)

Director of Defense and Foreign Policy Studies, Cato Institute

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](https://x.com/JustinTLogan) [ 

](mailto:jlogan@cato.org)