Rhetoric and Doctrines of Policy Over- and Underreactions in Times of Crisis

This paper focuses on policy design processes, undertaken in the run up to a potential crisis and in times of crisis requiring drastic measures, in order to explore the policy content which is available for policymakers in the form of policy over- and underraction options. It identifies two policy options – rhetoric and doctrine – for each mode of disproportionate policy response. These alternatives are then defined in terms of whether an all-or-nothing policy commitment is sought which is backed by a large amount of resources (e.g., money, time, political, or moral capital) available to use with discretion during a crisis. The argument advanced is that under such conditions, policy over- and underreaction rhetoric and doctrines may be carefully thought out, carefully developed, meticulously debated, and executed as planned. This argument is illustrated in military, financial and environmental domains in the U.S., Britain, Israel, the Palestinian Authority, the European Union and the OECD.