International Negotiation in a Complex World

Book excerpt: Negotiations to prevent or end conflict play a crucial role in today's conflict-ridden world, and this hands-on text is an essential introduction to the high-stakes realm of international negotiation. Using an easy-to-understand board game analogy as a framework for studying negotiation episodes, the book focuses on key aspects of the process, including bargaining, issue salience, and strategic choice. A rich array of case studies and real-world examples illustrate key themes, including how crisis, culture, domestic politics, and non-state actors and forces influence the international relations of states. Providing tools for analyzing why negotiations succeed or fail, this innovative text also presents effective exercises and learning approaches that enable students to understand the complexities of negotiation by engaging in the diplomatic process themselves.