The position that John McCain and the Bush Administration have taken in which negotiation is analogous to appeasement only reveals their ignorance. Their positions are archaic. They say the positions they take are a result of experience.
The notion that negotiation is analogous to appeasement is simply false reasoning.
The process of negotiation begins with opening avenues of communication. In its most basic meaning, the word communication means the creation of understanding.
Communication then becomes negotiation when there is a need for an agreement or a resolution. Negotiation means an interaction of influences. “Such interactions, for example, include the process of resolving disputes, agreeing upon courses of action, bargaining for individual or collective advantage, or crafting outcomes to satisfy various interests. Negotiation is thus a form of alternative dispute/conflict resolution.”
And, in negotiation there is always a need for diplomacy. Diplomacy means using skill, tact, and sensitivity in communicating with others.
On the other hand, appeasement is the granting of concessions, often at the expense of principle.
Creating understanding, interacting, using skill, tact, and diplomacy are simply not the same as making concessions, albeit negotiation will always incorporate some appropriate form of give and take, it is not synonymous with making concessions -- conciliation, pacification, or accession.
Conflict resolution does not begin with negotiation. This is principally where McCain and Bush make their error. If negotiation has had little success in the past it was precisely because the negotiation was started too late in the process to succeed. Negotiation is a process that begins with seeds of authentic communication. Just as with all things, the thing does not begin with the thing in and of itself – a need all of a sudden to negotiate. The things we value such as a car, an automobile, a television, a cell phone, or a computer are the result of accumulative knowledge -- opening up avenues of communication leads to the accumulative knowledge necessary for negotiation and the application of diplomacy. Moreover, this is an infinite process. There is not an end to this process – it’s ongoing.
John McCain and George W. Bush are not capable of new thinking. They are stuck in past history. They have not evolved. They are harnessed with the warrior mentality.
A viable peaceful existence will only come to fruition through the process of effective and authentic communication, negotiation, and diplomacy.
