Applicability of the Cognitive Approach. The previous discussion covered both the merits and drawbacks of the cognitive approach to the analysis of foreign policy. If the focus of the study were to be on how foreign policy is to be promulgated from a president, or head of government, and her or his closest advisers, and whether a certain advisory process would affect the final outcome, then the perceptual approach would obviously constitute a possible tool by which to analyze such policy dynamics. However, recall that the purpose of this study was to analyze the dynamics and determine the influence, if any, that political elites of a society have on foreign policy. Within this context, the cognitive approach would not have been the most appropriate tool to employ for analysis. Or even if it were pertinent, the cognitive approach would play, at best, a supplementary role.
