ENERGY DECISION-MAKING: THE TURKISH CASE HAKAN AKBULUT

The common denominator of most decision-making analyses is the notion that decisionmaking is the act of choosing between competing alternatives. The alternatives are usually different strategies for solving a problem. The fundamental concept is that decision-making is a process of selection according to some criterion adopted by the decision-maker.1 Despite the obvious and long-standing interest of social scientists in decision-making processes, the concept of decision-making was not defined or developed greatly before the 1950s. Beginning in the 1950s and continuing in the 1960s and 1970s, several social scientists begun to pay more attention to decision-making processes and brought new dimensions to decision-making analysis.2 Richard C. Snyder is one of the pioneers in this regard.3 Decision-making is the process in which a decision-maker chooses the best action out of alternative possibilities given to him. The following elements describe the process

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  • 1 Allan, Lerner W., The Politics of Decision-Making, Sage Publications, London, 1976, p. 8.
  • 2 See Allison, Graham, Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crises, Harper Collins, New York, 1971.
  • 3 Snyder, Richard C., et al, Decision-Making as an Approach to the Study of International Politics, Princeton University, USA, 1954.
  • 4 Walsh, Roberta W. and Heilman, John G. (eds.), Energizing the Energy Policy Process, Quorum Books, Westport, 1994, p. 4.
  • 5 Munasinghe, Mohan, 'Developing Country Energy Issues and Prospects' in Pachauri, R.K. (eds.), Global Energy Interactions, Rivardale Company, Maryland