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Political Science General

The Art of Negotiation

A Simulation for Resolving Conflict in Federal States

by (author) Jonathan Rose, Alexis Conrad & John McLean

Publisher
University of Toronto Press
Initial publish date
Jan 2002
Category
General
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781551114811
    Publish Date
    Jan 2002
    List Price
    $38.95

Classroom Resources

Where to buy it

Description

How do leaders in a federation make important decisions? Whose interests should be paramount: those of the state or the federal government? What are the costs and benefits of symmetrical and asymmetrical federalism? These are some of the questions explored in The Art of Negotiation.

This book sets up a game or simulation intended to help students understand the role of negotiation in intergovernmental relations. The setting is the fictional country of Holden. Participants role-play first ministers and other ministers at an intergovernmental conference. They learn how federal states manage such issues as the competing and conflicting demands of cultural and linguistic protection for minorities, the appropriate distribution of economic wealth among its states, and the accommodations that need to be made when a country engages in more liberalized trade with its neighbours.

Though "Holden" is not real, the problems discussed in this book are ones faced by virtually all federal countries: issues of language, fiscal equality, cultural protection of minorities, and the appropriate balance of power between central and provincial or state governments.

About the authors

Jonathan R. Rose is an avid traveller, spending more than half of his adult life abroad, with no intention of stopping. He is the author of the books Carrion, The Spirit of Laughter, and Wedlock. He currently resides in Mississauga, Ontario.

Jonathan Rose's profile page

Alexis Conrad is an analyst at Intergovernmental Affairs, Privy Council Office, Government of Canada.

Alexis Conrad's profile page

John McLean is a doctoral student in the Department of Political Studies at Queen's University.

John McLean's profile page