EU Mediation in Montenegro: Satisficing, Formulation and Manipulation in International Mediation

Abstract

This chapter investigates the negotiations on Montenegro’s independence in 2006. The author shows that many of the voting thresholds proposed by the two camps (unionists and pro-independents) during their negotiations about the independence referendum were salient or focal. Arguing that focal point solutions are often suboptimal to both parties, he demonstrates that they offer important opportunities to mediators. Focal points can induce the parties toward the adoption of a satisficing rather than a maximizing strategy conductive to the reaching of an agreement that both parties can live with. This is the case even when the mediators are neither unbiased nor indifferent to the outcome of the negotiations.