What is Required for a Peaceful Negotiation to be Successful?

WHAT IS REQUIRED FOR A PEACEFUL NEGOTIATION TO BE SUCCESSFUL?
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What is Required for a Peaceful Negotiation to be Successful?
The world has been a witness to some of the most gruesome, violent, and heinous acts that have left memories of a past that is best left undisturbed. During the First World War, Mougel (2011, p. 1) notes that there were more than 20 million deaths, and more than 21 million people ended up wounded. Of the casualties, civilians accounted for about ten million, which showed how deadly conflict could be and the failure to hold successful peaceful negotiations. After the First World War, the world also witnessed another period of mindless killings that left even more death, billions in property damage, and millions of refugees during the Second World War. Eder (2014, p. 2) notes that the world lost more than 60 million people during the Second World War. This was a significant percentage of the world’s population at the time, with some countries reportedly losing close to 20% of their populations. The images were horrific, and the numbers were beyond comprehension. The Second World War set the world on a different path, and even though there were scares of a Third World War breaking out, the lessons were too many to ignore. Peace became the goal for most countries, and peaceful negotiations started to happen at a higher rate. The definition of the term peaceful negotiation is quite simple and direct. The term denotes the process where two warring parties agree to put down their tools and reach a compromise in the presence of a mediator. While the process itself may not be as easy as the definition, the world has been a witness to some successful peace negotiations. The lessons and the scars of the past wars are still fresh, and people are unwilling to entertain the prospect of going back to counting their losses after years of fighting. However, regardless of the statement above, some parts of the world have still been hit with violence, and most recently, countries like Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, Israel-Palestine, Congo, among others, have been featured in international media. In some of the cases above, peaceful negotiations have been instrumental in helping to bring about a truce, cessation of hostilities, ceasefire, and armistice. However, in others, war has continued with lives still lost, millions displaced, and the economic effects felt for decades. Regardless of the above, however, this paper provides a discussion into the intricacies of peaceful negotiations while also revealing some suggestions on the requirements for successful peace negotiations.
Types of Peaceful Negotiations
Negotiations take different approaches depending on the issues at hand. The first approach to peace is known as transactional negotiations. Transactional negotiations are mainly based on the give and take module. Two warring parties meet, table their demands, reach a compromise, and agree to a few select issues that are deemed crucial by the mediator. Transactional negotiations mainly seek to attain a compromise between the parties involved. Here, as indicated by Abukhater (2019, p. 125), the process is “reflective of distributive bargaining, wh...