Guy Olivier Faure

Most studies of international negotiations take successful talks as their subject. With a few notable exceptions, analysts have paid little attention to negotiations ending in failure. The essays in Unfinished Business show that as much, if not more, can be learned from failed negotiations as from successful negotiations with mediocre outcomes. Failure in this study pertains to a set of negotiating sessions that were convened for the purpose of achieving an agreement but instead broke up in continued disagreement. Seven case studies compose the first part of this volume: the United Nations negotiations on Iraq, the Middle East Peace Summit at Camp David in 2000, Iran-European Union negotiations, the Cyprus conflict, the Biological Weapons Convention, the London Conference of 1830–33 on the status of Belgium, and two hostage negotiations (Waco and the Munich Olympics). These case studies provide examples of different types of failed negotiations: bilateral, multilateral, and mediated (or trilateral). The second part of the book analyzes empirical findings from the case studies as causes of failure falling in four categories: actors, structure, strategy, and process. This is an analytical framework recommended by the Processes of International Negotiation, arguably the leading society dedicated to research in this area. The last section of Unfinished Business contains two summarizing chapters that provide broader conclusions—lessons for theory and lessons for practice.

Why International Negotiations Fail

Unfinished Business

I. William Zartman

Jacob Blaustein Professor of International Organization and Conflict Resolution and Director of African Studies I William Zartman

This volume examines the point where the concepts and practices of escalation and negotiation meet.

Escalation and Negotiation in International Conflicts

This edited volume addresses the important issue of negotiating with terrorists, and offers recommendations for best practice and processes. Hostage negotiation is the process of trying to align two often completely polarised parties. Authorities view hostage taking as unacceptable demands made by unacceptable means. However terrorists view their actions as completely justified, even on moral and religious grounds. If they are to try and reconcile these two sides, it is essential for hostage negotiators to understand terrorist culture, the hostage takers’ profiles, their personality, their view of the world and also the authorities, their values and their framing of the problem raised by the taking of hostages. Although not advocating negotiating with terrorists, the volume seeks to analyse when, why, and how it is done. Part I deals with the theory and quantifiable data produced from analysis of hostage situations, while Part II explores several high profile case studies and the lessons that can be learnt from them. This volume will be of great interest to students of terrorism studies, conflict management, negotiation, security studies and IR in general. I William Zartman is the Jacob Blaustein Distinguished Professor Emeritus of International Organization and Conflict Resolution and former Director of the Conflict Management and African Studies Programs, at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Washington, DC. He is a member of the Steering Committee of the Processes of International Negotiation (PIN) Program at the International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Laxenburg, Austria. He is author/editor of over 20 books on negotiation, conflict and mediation. Guy Olivier Faure is Professor of Sociology at the Sorbonne University, Paris I, and a member of the Steering Committee of the Processes of International Negotiation (PIN) Program at the International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Laxenburg, Austria. He has served as an advisor to French government on hostage negotiations.

Strategy, Tactics, and Politics

Negotiating with Terrorists

Engaging Extremists concerns negotiation with political terrorist organizations, separating terrorist groups that can be engaged from those that, for the moment, cannot.

Trade-offs, Timing, and Diplomacy

Engaging Extremists

"How People Negotiate brings together a set of negotiation stories, and presents this collection with an integrative overview. This volume provides tracers, and theoretical elaboration and includes a comprehensive overview of research on negotiation. It is relevant to students, researchers and professionals working in the field of negotiation, conflict resolution, problem solving, joint decision making and cultural strategies."--BOOK JACKET.

Resolving Disputes in Different Cultures

How People Negotiate

How People Negotiate brings together a set of negotiation stories, accompanied by an integrative overview. This volume provides cases and theoretical elaboration and includes a comprehensive overview of research on negotiation. Some negotiation stories are exotic and strange: they come from a large number of countries, ranging from China, to African Countries, to the Ancient Middle East. Others are drawn from Western settings such as France, Germany, and USA. The negotiations described take various forms: negotiating with oneself, negotiating one's own way through bicycle traffic or animals appearing to negotiate with each other. The stories begin with Abraham negotiating with the Lord about the fate of Sodom, the first-ever recorded account of negotiations. The negotiations in this volume present something new and unusual. They are catchy, intriguing, exciting, intellectually challenging and original. They give us a new perspective on negotiating, tell us something about the world we live in, and - by means of a worthwhile detour - they teach us about ourselves.

Guy Olivier Faure

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