The process of coding a rule-based expert system in Prolog is described in terms designed to (1) clarify the conditions under which this analytical methodology is an appropriate social science research tool and (2) encourage social scientists unfamiliar with this analytical technology to experiment with it. The application is Sino-Soviet diplomatic negotiating sessions. Code for a simplified working version is presented, along with instructions for adapting it—perhaps as a classroom exercise—to other problems. Keywords: international relations, political science, methodology, Prolog, programming, tutonal, expert systems, artificial intelligence.
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