Negotiation and the Shadow of Law

Abstract

In this chapter we will consider negotiation as a form of conflict resolution and how its procedures often need to be understood against a background of law. The goal of peace between conflicting, and sometimes warring, opponents may be so elusive to achieve and so precariously fragile to sustain that often the only prospect for success appears to be for the contending faction with greater power to simply dominate the other as when a nation uses military force to impose an outcome, without concern for grave consequences. However, even in such dire cases, peace through negotiation can sometimes be made viable. Negotiation for peace is a process of communication invoked for the singular purpose of reaching a specifiable agreement to abate conflict among determined parties with noncongruent perceptions of needs, goals, positions, or other diverging valued interests. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)