Dr. Siniša Vuković is Senior Lecturer of Conflict Management and Global Policy, and the Director of the Master of Arts in Global Policy Program (MAGP). He is also a visiting professor at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, Leiden University, and at the Amsterdam University College, University of Amsterdam. He received his PhD in International Relations and Conflict Resolution at Leiden University, an MA in International Relations and Diplomacy from Leiden University and The Netherlands Institute of International Relations “Clingendael”, and a BA (laurea) in Political Science from University of Rome “La Sapienza”. He is the recipient of many research grants, including “Rubicon” from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), and Gerda Henkel Foundation research grant. His research focuses on various forms of international conflict resolution, negotiation and mediation. He has published in a range of scholarly journals such as Journal of Peace Research, Cooperation and Conflict, Global Policy, Washington Quarterly, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Swiss Political Science Review, Millennium Journal of International Studies, International Journal of Conflict Management, International Negotiation, Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, and Ethnopolitics, policy-relevant outlets such as Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, European Council on Foreign Relations, World Economic Forum, Sustainable Security, and Policy Forum, and contributed to several edited volumes with book chapters. His book International Multiparty Mediation and Conflict Management (2017) is published by Routledge. He is currently working on two book projects: Rethinking Conflict Management and Resolution (with I. William Zartman; publisher Edgar Elgar), and The International Negotiation Process (with P. Terrence Hopmann). He is also the co-editor of the forthcoming Research Handbook on the Politics of International Agreements (with P. Terrence Hopmann, publisher Edgar Elgar). He has taught a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses related to the field of conflict management, with a particular focus on the process of negotiation and mediation.
Examines bargaining and negotiations from the theoretical and policy perspectives in international diplomacy. Emphasizes the impact of the negotiation process on the outcomes of negotiations in both theory and practice, including the role of individual negotiators, domestic politics, cultural context, and the international environment. Considers ways in which negotiations may ameliorate conflicts of interest and identity in international politics. Numerous case studies and simulation exercises will be utilized. Limited to 25 students.
The course provides an in-depth study of the current state of the art of international mediation. The aim is to systematically approach the various uses, techniques, and problems of using mediation as a form of third party intervention to manage, resolve, or transform international conflicts. The course will offer an analysis of the history and development of international mediation as a distinct form of conflict management. The students will also get familiar with various factors that affect both the process and the outcome of international mediation. Frist of all, the course will cover a variety of contextual factors that condition any process of international mediation, such as the nature of the dispute (i.e. levels of intractability, degree of violence used, and issues at stake), disputants’ characteristics (i.e. power symmetries and asymmetries in conflict, strategies and tactics used in conflict, and capacities to rally international support) and mediators’ characteristics (i.e. perceived credibility, reputation, bias, interests and leverage which they may employ in the dispute). Secondly, the course will also provide an analysis of various behavioral factors (i.e. mediation strategies) that affect the process and outcome of international mediation. Finally, the students will also study the importance of specific types of agreements that are reached through mediation and their particular impact on both the short and long run. After completing the course the students will be able to better analyze and understand international conflicts and indicate how and why international mediation takes place.
Seminar within which students research and write their program paper, a publishable quality paper normally 30-40 pages in length, on a research topic selected in consultation with the course instructor; these paper may build upon papers submitted in prior courses, buth they should entail considerable additional research and analysis. The seminar will provide a general introduction to issues or research design, focusing on the relationship between conflict management theory and empirical research regarding conflict prevention, management, resolution, and post-conflict peace-building. All students will make oral presentations about their research design to the seminar in order to receive early feedback from the instructor and fellow students. Drafts of the research paper must be submitted by the end of the first full week in April. Papers must be accepted and course requirements must be completed prior to graduation; candidates for honors must have their papers approved prior to scheduling the oral examination, normally no later than May 1, so almost finished drafts must be submitted by April 1 by all students planning to take the honors oral examination.