The purpose of this case study was to examine how the Bush Administration fought the War On Terror, more specifically towards al-Qaida, from a foreign policy decision-making perspective. What kind of means have been used to fight terrorism and al-Qaida and why have these means been used?

The field of foreign policy for a state have been divided into three main goals; the issue of security, the issue of welfare and the issue of ideology. The means that have been presented to meet these goals have been: propaganda, diplomacy, economic and military means. The US counterterrorism work has then been categorized into the different means of foreign policy.  To explain why the particular means have been used, the concept of foreign policy decision-making have been presented, into three main levels of analyses; Individual level, State level, and the International system.

The conclusion of the study is that the Bush administration more or less applied all four means of foreign policy to combat terrorism. Military means proofed to have been used the most, much to due to invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. The usage of means could be then explained trough the operational code of George W Bush, the support and push of domestic politics and interest groups within the USA and finally by USA being the hegemony in a unipolar world system