Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2011, Political Science

The problem of intentions is central to all major paradigms of international relations theory. Each paradigm has offered mechanisms by which intentions can be approximated, though not known. These mechanisms range from costly signaling in rationalism, iterative interaction in institutional liberalism, to reflected appraisals and identity in constructivism. Each of these perspectives involves agents observing the external behavior of actors and creating a theory about that behavior based on folk psychology reasoning. In this dissertation I present an alternate mechanism for understanding intentions that relies on simulating the intentions of others rather than theorizing about them. I argue that through face-to-face interaction actors are able to simulate the intentions of others, creating a one-to-one physical correspondence in the brain between individuals. This simulation allows actors to understand and replicate the intentions of others from an internal first-person perspective rather than an external third-person perspective. I investigate the implications of this finding for international relations theory, face-to-face diplomacy, and illustrate its effects empirically in diplomatic history.

Committee: Alexander Wendt (Committee Chair); Richard Herrmann (Committee Member); Jennifer Mitzen (Committee Member) Subjects: International Relations; Neurosciences; Political Science