Conflict Resolution

Advanced Problem-Solving Strategies

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Non-Litigated Disputes

Teamwork

Sep 18, 2015 | by Joe Markowitz | 0 comment

My rabbi’s Rosh Hashanah sermon this year concerned the important topic of healing the widening rifts in the Jewish community, which have broken out especially over the nuclear weapons deal with Iran. The problem he was talking about is not so much that there is disagreement about the advisability of this deal. Considering how troublesome and untrustworthy an adversary Iran has been, one would expect strong disagreements among supporters of Israel about how we should deal with that adversary. Such disagreements wouldn’t be a particularly new thing among members of the Jewish community. As the rabbi pointed out, ferocious conflicts among factions of the Jewish community have existed from the time Joseph fought with his brothers, and on and on […]

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Negotiation

Iran

Jul 15, 2015 | by Joe Markowitz | 0 comment

The ink is barely dry on the breakthrough agreement reached this week with Iran, requiring that country to eliminate most of its nuclear weapons capacity in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions, and many critics are already out in full force decrying the agreement. It seems remarkable that they could be so sure of their opposition without having had much time to read or study the text, or consider carefully whether this deal is better than the alternative of continued conflict. (In previous posts–here and here–on this topic, I outlined the way in which I think any negotiated agreement should be evaluated, not by comparing it to the outcome each side would have preferred, but instead by comparing it […]

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Negotiation

Time

Jul 10, 2015 | by Joe Markowitz | 0 comment

Here is Secretary of State John Kerry reporting on the progress of negotiations with Iran. His statement should sound familiar to a lot of mediators: on continuing negotiations so long as progress is being made, on the importance of building an agreement that will last, on the need to avoid being rushed or constrained by arbitrary deadlines, and at the same time on recognizing that difficult decisions need to be made soon if agreement is to be reached.

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Non-Litigated Disputes

Three options

Apr 04, 2015 | by Joe Markowitz | 0 comment

President Obama’s statement announcing the framework agreement reached with Iran this week outlined the three options the world has for preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. First, we can reach a robust and verifiable deal — like this one — and peacefully prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. The second option is we can bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities, thereby starting another war in the Middle East, and setting back Iran’s program by a few years — in other words, setting it back by a fraction of the time that this deal will set it back.  Meanwhile we’d ensure that Iran would race ahead to try and build a bomb. Third, we could pull out of negotiations, try to get […]

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Negotiation

Bad deals

Mar 04, 2015 | by Joe Markowitz | 0 comment

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress yesterday about the conflict with Iran (transcript here) illustrates an attitude many parties in conflict take toward settlement negotiations. As the possibility of a negotiated resolution of a conflict begins to emerge, elements on one side or the other often find themselves resisting the deal.  In this case, the deal on the table would allow Iran to maintain some nuclear capacity, but would not allow them to build nuclear weapons. It’s a bad deal, according to Netanyahu, because it would allow Iran to build many thousands of centrifuges, and shorten what is called the “break out time” that it would take for the country to build actual weapons. On the other hand, […]

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