Special Issue: Intragovernmental Negotiations: Politics, Process, Strategies, and Outcomes Editors
Vuković, S., & Zartman, I.W. (2025). Intragovernmental Negotiations: Politics, Process, Strategies, and Outcomes Editors. Negotiation Journal (41) 351-517
Abstract
Government decision-making is often viewed as a simple matter of voting or executive decree, but what if these are merely the final acts of a much deeper process? If diplomacy is the engine of relations between states, how does negotiation drive the essential work of governing within them? Traditional political analysis often focuses on the final outcome, overlooking the complex internal bargaining that actually forges policy. This special issue stems from a collaborative initiative by the Processes of International Negotiation (PIN) group and serves as the final major research project spearheaded by the renowned scholar I. William Zartman.
The collection challenges the view of the state as a unified actor, instead presenting it as a negotiated order where competing interests, institutions, and bureaucratic logics collide. Through diverse case studies—ranging from legislative gridlock in the U.S. Congress and pension reform in France to authoritarian survival strategies in Eurasia—researchers analyze the internal architecture of power, the dynamics of persuasion and coercion, and the critical role of historical context. This special issue provides the first systematic framework for understanding governance not as a command structure, but as a perpetual process of negotiation.
Contents
1. Introduction to Special Issue Domestic Order: Government as Negotiation - Siniša Vuković 2. Legislation by Negotiation: Domestic Multilateral Bargaining in the US House of Representatives and the White House From 2022 to 2024 - I. William Zartman 3. Domestic Veto Players and Negotiation Dynamics: Canadian Internal Politics and International Agreements - Fen Osler Hampson 4. Making of the Türkiye-EU Readmission Agreement and Visa Liberalization Deal: Internal Negotiations within the Turkish Executive - Ali Tekin and Burak Erdenir 5. Reforming France’s Pension System: A Negotiation Ballet - Christian Thuderoz 6. Belgian Parliamentary Negotiations on the Colonial Past - Valérie Rosoux 7. Resilient Autocrats: Negotiation vs. Repression in War and Rebellion in Post-Soviet Eurasia - Mikhail Troitskiy
About the Editors
Sinisa Vuković is Senior Lecturer and Director of the Master of Arts in Global Policy (MAGP) at the The Johns Hopkins University of Advanced International Studies. He is a member of the Steering Committee of the Processes of International Negotiation (PIN) Program.
I. William Zartman (1931-2025) is the Jacob Blaustein Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of The Johns Hopkins University of Advanced International Studies in Washington, and member of the Steering Committee of the Processes of International Negotiation (PIN) Program.
