| Based on various choice making theories, I develop a spatial supergame model to address joint choice processes and outcomes of bilateral interactions in general and the U.S.-China relations in particular. Key concepts in the spatial supergame model include participating players, critical issue dimensions, issue game structures and non-myopic equilibrium, overall spatial supergame outcome, and players' attention dynamics. The notion of bounded rationality is seen as the fundamental mechanism that governs the play of a spatial supergame. A series of empirical tests of the most critical propositions derived from the model demonstrate that bilateral interactions are influenced by both participating parties' analytic/rational abilities and their dynamic attentiveness to different issue dimensions. This dissertation concludes that national policy makers are fundamentally boundedly rational actors in handling of complicated, multifaceted, interacting foreign policy choices. |
