Escalation and Negotiation in International Conflicts

Description

How can an escalation of conflict lead to negotiation? In this systematic study, Zartman and Faure bring together European and American scholars to examine this important topic and to define the point where the concepts and practices of escalation and negotiation meet. Political scientists, sociologists, social psychologists, and war-making and peace-making strategists, among others, examine the various forms escalation can take and relate them to conceptual advances in the analysis of negotiation. They argue that structures, crises, turning points, demands, readiness and ripeness can often define the conditions where the two concepts can meet and the authors take this opportunity to offer lessons for theory and practice. By relating negotiation to conflict escalation, two processes that have traditionally been studied separately, this book fills a significant gap in the existing knowledge and is directly relevant to the many ongoing conflicts and conflict patterns in the world today.

I. William Zartman is the Jacob Blaustein Distinguished Professor of International Organization and Conflict Resolution and Director of the Conflict Management Program, The Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, at The John Hopkins University. He is the editor and author of almost 50 books. Guy Olivier Faure is Professor of Sociology at the Sorbonne University, Paris V, Department of Social Sciences. He has authored, co-authored and edited a dozen books and over 50 articles; his works have been published in 12 different languages.

'It is a focused and well-organised volume aimed at researchers and postgraduates.' Political Studies Review