<P> I am not sure that Marr would agree, but I am tempted to add learning as the very top level of understanding, above the computational level . (...) Only then may we be able to build intelligent machines that could learn to see--and think--without the need to be programmed to do it . </P> <P> In political science, level of analysis is generally divided into three categories - individual, state, and international system, however newer discussions of globalization have led to a newer level of analysis to be considered . The three (or four) levels of analysis cannot describe every effect and there is unlimited number of levels between the three primary ones, levels of analysis will help understand how one force in political power affects another . Generally, power is the concept that collects all the analysis together . For example, the struggle for power may be the cause of war, but the struggle for power may originate in the individual human being's lust for power . The lust for power is individual level of analysis, while the struggle for power is systemic level of analysis . </P> <P> The individual level of analysis locates the cause of events in individual leaders or the immediate circle of decision makers within a particular country . It focuses on human actors on the world stage identifying the characteristics of human decision making . For example, the cause of World War I is from the particular leaders in power at that time . Kaiser Wilhelm II is considered to be the level from which the cause originated . It may have been his need for power to hide a sense of inferiority, or it may have been his inability to understand the intricacies of statecraft, the way Otto von Bismarck did . Or it may have been his idea about the monarchy and German destiny . All three possibilities are drawn from an individual level of analysis . </P> <P> The domestic level of analysis locates causes in the character of the domestic system of specific states . Thus, war is caused by aggressive or warlike states, not by evil, inept, or misguided people or the structure of power in the international system . The failure of domestic institutions may also cause war . In World War I, the internal collapse of the Austro - Hungarian Empire, or the brittle coalition inside Germany of agricultural and industrial interest, such as rye and iron, are often cited as important causes . Domestic level cases may come from various characteristics of the domestic system . Capitalist and socialist economies generate different attitudes and behavior . The Muslim and Christian religions or democratic and nondemocratic political ideologies do as well . Stable and failed institutions are domestic level factors affecting state behavior . A great worry today is the existence of failed states, meaning states whose domestic institutions have broken down, such as Somalia . Another worry here is existence of a rogue state, such as North Korea, which may pass nuclear weapons on to terrorists . Any type of state come from the domestic level of analysis, but a failed state usually means an institutional breakdown at domestic level of analysis, whereas a rogue state often implies evil intentions by individual--individual level of analysis . </P>

Macro and micro levels of analysis in sociology