Historical explanation differs from attempts to turn international relations into a reliably predictive science. Algorithms can identify likely outcomes when programmers supply suitable data and assumptions, but political decisions contain factors that remain difficult to quantify. Language shapes how people describe problems and interpret intent, so leaders from different linguistic cultures may begin from different mental frames. Relationships among Anglophone states are a poor universal model because their shared language removes one source of difference. A useful model still represents only part of political reality.
Notable Point · 55:51-59:12
International-relations models cannot remove cultural context
A methodological aside warns that predictive models in international relations depend on data and assumptions while leaders, languages, and political cultures add hard-to-quantify variables.