Managing Global Conflicts: The International Negotiation Process

Managing Global Conflicts presents an overview of major alternative approaches to the analysis of international negotiations developed in the literature of the past sixty years. By combining empirical verification of hypotheses and a broad interest in what can be learned from existing research, P. Terrence Hopmann and Sinisa Vukovic suggest prescriptions for improving the negotiation process to produce better, mutually beneficial outcomes.

The authors examine the extensive tradition of theory and research on international negotiation processes at both the intra-state and inter-state levels. They analyze alternative theoretical approaches and the conditions under which these theories may prove most relevant. By introducing elements of complexity at multiple levels, they explore the factors under which different outcomes may emerge from negotiations in conflict scenarios, including relative power, decision-making structures, the roles of individual cognitive frames, images, and cultural practices.

Hopmann and Vukovic present a menu of options for evaluating the relationships between the initial conditions of conflict, the negotiation process, and the outcomes of that process in determining the extent to which conflicts are resolved. Featuring case studies and a thorough analysis of the field, Managing Global Conflicts is an essential resource for students, scholars, and practitioners of negotiation at many levels.