Talking with the Enemy: Negotiation and Threat Perception in South Africa and Israel/Palestine

(Hardback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

The decisions to negotiate in the South African and Israeli/Palestinian conflicts can be understood in terms of changed perceptions of threat among political elites and their constituents. As perceptions of an imminent threat to national survival receded, debate over national security policy became a focus of internal politics on the government sides in each case and prompted changes of leadership. The new leaders, F.W. de Klerk and Yitzhak Rabin, faced emerging threats at the national and international levels that made negotiation seem advantageous. Lieberfeld analyzes the decisions of the opposition ANC and PLO in terms of changing threat perceptions and incentives for compromise. Lieberfeld also evaluates developments since the breakthrough agreements. He concludes by identifying revised indicators of conflicts' ripeness for negotiated settlement and discussing their applicability to other cases of intense, protracted conflict.

Reviews

Lieberfeld's analysis offers a comparative framework with which to better understand both conflicts and his insights may also be useful for evaluating the initial stages of other peace processes.-Bulletin of Regional Cooperation in the Middle East
This book provides an analytical framework to better understand the emergence of nonviolent political relations and the fate of peace is South Africa and Israel. Daniel Lieberfeld has made an outstanding contribution to peace studies, while making us aware that even enemies with a long history of hate and violence could engage in painstaking efforts for peace and cooperation.-Journal of Third World Studies
"Lieberfeld's analysis offers a comparative framework with which to better understand both conflicts and his insights may also be useful for evaluating the initial stages of other peace processes."-Bulletin of Regional Cooperation in the Middle East
"This book provides an analytical framework to better understand the emergence of nonviolent political relations and the fate of peace is South Africa and Israel. Daniel Lieberfeld has made an outstanding contribution to peace studies, while making us aware that even enemies with a long history of hate and violence could engage in painstaking efforts for peace and cooperation."-Journal of Third World Studies

Author Bio

DANIEL LIEBERFELD has taught at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, the University of Missouri-St. Louis, and Bowdoin College. His articles have appeared in Negotiation Journal, Middle East Policy, The American Scholar, and other journals.