ABSTRACT

This book investigates a series of diverse but interconnected questions that are inspired by the work of I. William Zartman. In an era when tenuous boundaries persisted between studies of international relations and comparative politics, Zartman’s scholarship has always sought to create conceptual and analytical linkages between the sub-disciplines. A brief illustration of this academic straddling: he has deployed realist/neorealist assumptions to the study of African international relations, elite theories to understanding leadership in North Africa, and bargaining theories to analyses of Panama Canal negotiations and the Oslo peace process. More critical, he has bridged the gaps between North and Sub-Saharan Africa at a moment when most scholars invoke linguistic and cultural differences to build walls between the two regions. Over the years, with a remarkable intellectual energy, Zartman’s academic bridge building has coalesced around the fields of bargaining and conflict management. Conflict management culminated Zartman’s efforts to reconcile the sub-disciplines, but at the same time has allowed Zartman to transcend the narrow confines of political science by probing the contributions of social psychology and economics.