This article re-evaluates Graham Allison's approach to bureaucratic politics in the second edition of his Essence of Decision, authored with Philip Zelikow. Although the renewed analytical framework still appears to be an excellent tool for describing policy decision-making processes, the numerous criticisms it received in the past with respect to its difficult operationalization is a problem left unsolved. To respond to this major difficulty, the author of this article combines Vincent Lemieux's structuration of power with Allison's approach. In order to validate the ensuing model, an empirical test is then conducted using the case study of the 1987 Canadian White Paper on Defence. This original proposition opens up avenues of research in the fields of foreign as well as public policy making.