Deadlocked International Institutions: Implications for Negotiated Conflict Management

Abstract This article argues that the international institutions in which negotiations have often taken place have been challenged by increased conflict among member states in the early 21 st century. Multilateral international institutions function best when common interests are viewed as paramount by the state parties, because they allow the state parties to negotiate structures and processes that serve their shared interests and values. The paper analyzes the difficulties in managing international conflicts in the UN, osce , nato , and EU since 2000 due in part to the inability to achieve consensus within fractured and stalemated institutions. These problems have increasingly limited the role of these institutions in managing some of the most dangerous global conflicts, including on arms control and disarmament and managing the Russian war in Ukraine.