ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to correct some of the deficiencies by situating some of the different approaches to the study of negotiation and mediation within a broader, international relations conceptual framework. It explains why mediation and negotiation emerged as key tools of conflict management in the late 1980s through to the beginning of this century to resolve violent civil and regional conflicts in different corners of the world. The chapter argues that a strategic alignment in great power interests coupled with key trends in globalization and the strengthening and deepening of the postwar liberal international order contributed to the growing utility and importance of mediation and negotiation as tools of conflict management. It tries to situate mediation as a tool of statecraft within the broader international relations literature by discussing some of the "core" assumptions that underlie different approaches to the study and practice of mediation.
