Peace Through Agreement

In Peace Through Agreement, Gerald Rabow reveals how any dispute, including those that lead to serious confrontation between nations, can be resolved through the proper management of informed self interest. Rabow demonstrates how the utilizing of negotiation, mediation, and arbitration techniques, as well as a sound analytic understanding of non-zero-sum conflicts can achieve peace. He shows, through analogous non-zero-sum games, that cooperation between conflicting factions is much more successful than is generally believed. Through the playing of these games, the reader can experience conflict resolution in a controlled setting. Finally, the book presents a scheme for the arbitration of a major international dispute. Students and scholars of political science, peace studies, diplomacy, or anyone interested in new approaches to peace will find Peace Through Agreement a valuable resource.

This book challenges generally accepted views with the following conclusions: Arbitration can be used in resolving all international disputes, particularly those involving the most vital national interests; cooperation, rather than defection is almost always the best strategy in non-zero sum games; negotiators and arbitrators should not base payoff division on threat capabilities; and, delaying negotiations is never justified. Peace Through Agreement, an important contribution to the ever widening field of peace studies, should be required reading for anyone interested in achieving peace in our time.

GERALD RABOW has spent his career in systems engineering with IT&T, Otis Elevator Research Center, and AT&T Bell Laboratories. He has become increasingly engaged in research and writing on applying systems engineering approaches toward the solution of societal problems, especially that of attaining peace. He is an officer and founding member of the IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology.