Negotiation

Description

Everyone negotiates. Whenever any person, company, or country needs someone else to accomplish something, they must negotiate. Negotiation is essential for peace and international relations, but also for economically efficient trades and bargains in business, and for problem solving skills in workplaces, families, and interpersonal interactions.

This Very Short Introduction provides a comprehensive and accessible review of both conceptual and behavioural approaches to the human process of negotiation. Carrie Menkel-Meadow draws on research in constituent fields of human psychology, diplomacy, law, business, anthropology, game theory, decision making, international relations, sociology, public policy, and economics, suggesting models for creative problem solving to often intractable problems. Considering that most people are tense and frightened of what they perceive to be scarce resource confrontations with opponents and competitors, Menkel-Meadow offers different ways to plan for and approach others to solve human problems and seek solutions that satisfy both parties. Alongside this, Menkel-Meadow summarises recent research on the variations of human behaviour, providing vivid examples from history and current affairs to solve some of the most difficult problems.

About the author

Carrie Menkel-Meadow is Distinguished Professor of Law and Political Science at the University of California and Chettle Professor of Law, Dispute Resolution and Civil Procedure, Emerita at Georgetown University. She is the author or editor of over 20 books and 200 articles on dispute resolution, including, Negotiation: Processes for Problem Solving (2021), Mediation: Practice, Policy and Ethics (2020), Dispute Resolution: Beyond the Adversary Model (2020), What's Fair: Ethics for Negotiators (2004), and International Dispute Resolution (forthcoming). She has taught negotiation, mediation, arbitration, and legal ethics in over 25 countries.

Table of contents

1:When we need others to accomplish something
2:Frameworks of negotiation: winning for self or problem solving for all?
3:Contexts in negotiation
4:Behavioral choices in negotiation
5:Challenges to reaching negotiated agreements
6:Complex multi-party multi-issue negotiations
7:Ethical and legal issues in negotiation
8:The future of negotiation