Diplomacy & Negotiation

Catalog description

International negotiation has become the most widely used means of conflict management in international affairs. Negotiations of international significance are today conducted not only between individual states, but also within and beyond them. At the same time negotiation practice itself is undergoing much change with changing patterns of conflict and intervention, new urgent issues on the global agenda, new actors and new emerging norms. This course provides an overview of negotiation and conflict resolution theories and practices of international importance – bilateral, regional and multilateral. The emphasis is on different approaches/aspects to understanding what drives the negotiation process and explains the outcome. Why do some negotiations succeed, while others keep failing? Why do some peace settlements succeed while others fail? We will examine not only the official negotiation process but also the important functions of pre-negotiation, second-track diplomacy and post-agreement negotiations concerned with implementation and compliance. While we will give many examples from various civil and international conflicts, our main focus will be on two regional conflicts – Cyprus and the Arab-Israeli conflict. There will also be guest lectures on some of the issues covered in class.