In political science I learned that an irrational state by definition will cease to exist and any rational state does not. That if a state survives, no matter how irrational what decision it made seems to us, then the decision is by default obviously rational (the thinking is that if it didn't kill the state then obviously it was the right one to make). My response to the professor was- So if I go dance naked in the street and I'm not hit by a car then I still made a rational decision? (From what I understand that professor still tells the story of my response on day one of his class)
So my question to all you smart AH.com posters- Can we come up with a scenario from history that shows him wrong? Is there a case study that proves that a state survived an irrational decision? Or that a state made a rational decision and still ended up ceasing to exist, whereas if in an ATL it had made an irrational decision it would have at least continued to exist?