The Cognitive Structure of Peacemaking: Egypt and Israel, 1970-1978

Abstract

This study examines the hypothesis that the structure of beliefs of political leaders is related to the degree of cooperation exhibited by their nation toward a traditional enemy. We examine this relationship by focusing on the association between cognitive complexity-measured by structural as opposed to contentbased indices-and the proportion of cooperative behavior exchanged between Israel and Egypt over the period of 1970-1978. The findings indicate that measures of Sadat's cognitive complexity consistently and significantly affected the proportion of Egyptian cooperative behavior vis-a-vis Israel in subsequent periods. Specifically, the higher the level of cognitive complexity in Sadat's verbal expression, the higher the subsequent proportion of cooperative behavior exhibited by Egypt toward Israel. This relationship was not replicated in the Israeli case. We speculate that the cross-national differences are due to the different structures of the political systems of the two states. The implications of these findings are explored.