submit to US demands or face their "power and hostility" (Williams 1972, 206). While individual attributes explain a lot of how the COLD WAR originated, it is not complete in the argument. Perceptions and more specifically, misperceptions fill in some of the missing elements. Robert Jervis, in an excerpt from his book Perception and Misperception in International Politics, 1976, explains the origins of the COLD WAR from the Misperceptionist view. Jervis presents a two step model; actors perceptions as immediate cause of actions and relating the images held, if not to reality, then to the data available at the time (Viotti and Kauppi 1993, 299). Jervis explains that "it is often impossible to explain crucial decisions and policies without reference to the decision-makers' beliefs about the world and their images of others" (Viotti and Kauppi, 1993, 298). The interaction between the US and the USSR was problematic from 1945 on. Both had security concerns but these were mutually exclusive. The US wanted to pursue the Open Door policy to ensure the availability of open markets. The USSR felt the need for security from the West, the avenue of invasion for centuries. To eliminate this avenue, the USSR sought to protect its borders with a "buffer zone" consisting of friendly states to them ( maybe better term is 'communist sattelites', Stalin wasn't really interested in friendship, just the ability to control). The resulting perception of each was that the other state was being aggressive. The COLD WAR saw escalation on both sides in the form of weapons, troop strengths, and activities, all to counter what was happening on the other side. The projection of ones own perceptions onto another is known as mirroring (Rinehart 1998, classnotes). A prime example of this is the arms race joined (created) by both the US and USSR. Both saw the other in terms of themselves (awkwardperhaps 'their own cognitive maps") and applied the l...
