Settlement Strategies

Abstract

Given that parties to a conflict have decided to end their conflict, both, at some stage in the proceedings, will usually have to abandon the process of long-range tacit bargaining as their main strategy, and send representatives to engage in face-to-face bargaining over a negotiating table. This kind of direct meeting is usually difficult to arrange and conduct. The very fact that the parties are in often intense conflict with one another, and hence not communicating with ease, makes it difficult even to set up a suitable meeting. Again, any conflict process consists of a series of actions and reactions, as both parties try to achieve their respective goals, and at any point of the process one or both parties may still perceive that they are more likely to achieve their ultimate objectives through their chosen coercive strategies, rather than through negotiated compromise. However, given that parties even to international conflicts do engage in negotiations at numerous stages during a conflict, and that some negotiations eventually achieve what appear to be relatively satisfactory compromises, it is important to analyse the negotiating process and understand its structure and dynamics as well as its relationship to the broader process of ending conflicts.