Lawyers’ fees are one of the main causes of complaint by clients and of continued public concern about the ethicality of the profession. Charging ‘fairly and reasonably’ (the legal standard) and in compliance with the detailed legislative requirements imposed on a practitioner can be tricky. Even the most honest and conscientious lawyers may have trouble explaining fees to clients and controlling their increase. Organisational and personal pressures and adversarial approaches can lead to questionable billing practices and place pressure on individual lawyers to behave unethically.

How to reduce bias in performance evaluations, how and when to apply for promotion, how to get fair treatment in resources and publishing, change your name, and avoid tokenism.

Faculty hiring is a competitive process that evaluates you as a future research leader, teacher, and colleague. This chapter explains what faculty roles look like across research- and teaching-oriented institutions, and when a postdoc helps versus when you can apply straight from the PhD. It then walks through the core materials (cover letter, research and teaching statements), how to craft a job talk that is both accessible and technically credible, and how to approach interview days strategically. Finally, it outlines offer negotiation, focusing on securing the resources you need to succeed and documenting commitments clearly.

This chapter moves the argument forward by detailing two local protective mechanisms that primarily protect communities through ties to state agents: disrupting operations and reducing targets. Disrupting operations encompasses activities that make it more difficult for state agents to deploy discretionary violence. This intervention ranged in practice from relatively quiet outreach to local police officials to more contentious efforts to provide sanctuary to individuals in grave danger. Efforts at target reduction involve limiting the prevalence and salience of communities susceptible to populist violence (in this case, drug users). In the Philippines, parish-based drug rehabilitation programs, usually in partnership with local state officials, were the most common form of target reduction. After using the parish-based survey to chart the overall distribution of these activities, the authors empirically substantiate their operation through qualitative and quantitative evidence, including parish interviews, experimental evidence from a sample of plausible Philippine police personnel, and survey evidence of ordinary Filipinos.

Online Dispute Resolution (“ODR”) emerged from the convergence of Alternative Dispute Resolution practices and digital platforms, addressing the need for more accessible dispute resolution mechanisms. ODR platforms reduce logistical burdens by eliminating travel requirements and enabling asynchronous communication, while helping to level the playing field between represented and unrepresented parties.

This chapter examines how AI enhances ODR through automated settlement calculations using game theory, negotiation analysis through discourse monitoring, and sentiment analysis to detect contentious exchanges. AI systems can also assist facilitators by analyzing negotiation patterns and suggesting when interventions may be needed.

Despite significant potential benefits, ODR faces challenges, including the digital divide, algorithmic bias, and jurisdictional enforceability. Well-implemented ODR platforms, supported by transparent standards and ethical AI principles, may significantly contribute to making dispute resolution more equitable and responsive to modern societal needs, while requiring careful attention to user-centered design and robust data protection measures.

Chapter 1 introduces the book’s central research question and rationale. It highlights the growing prevalence of Islamist civil wars. The chapter underscores the urgent need to understand how these conflicts can be effectively ended and resolved, pointing to the lack of systematic scholarly attention to this issue. The book examines whether – and why – Islamist civil wars are more difficult to end than other conflicts, and to what extent they can be resolved. Developing a bargaining explanation, we suggest that Islamist civil wars are especially intractable because they are embedded in a particular strategic environment, which increases uncertainties about the parties’ resolve and capabilities. Understanding what makes Islamist civil wars so challenging is necessary to identify what can be done to resolve and end them. The chapter outlines the book’s main arguments and findings, including the empirical focus and cases to be explored, setting the stage for the chapters that follow.

In Chapter 5, we explore the implications of our argument for the prospects for conflict resolution in Islamist civil wars. Using new global data on negotiations coupled with existing data on peace agreements, we demonstrate that conflict resolution efforts in the form of peace negotiations are rare in Islamist civil wars, whereas we find no robust support for our expectation that peace accords are less likely in Islamist civil wars. In this chapter, we not only compare Islamist civil wars with other conflicts but also focus on Islamist conflicts to explore whether there are any differences when comparing transnationalized Islamist civil wars with other types of Islamist civil wars. We find support for our claim that those Islamist conflicts that appeal to a transnational global agenda are less open to negotiations and peace agreements. Examples from Thailand, Egypt, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Pakistan validate the distinction between transnationally oriented and domestically focused conflicts and the potential of negotiations and peace agreements in Islamist civil wars.

In Chapter 6, we build on the analysis from the previous chapter by focusing specifically on negotiations and dialogue. We examine a few Islamist groups in Mali and Syria, highlighting how their transnational or local orientation influences conflict resolution. In Mali, we analyze variations between groups: Ansar Dine, Katiba Macina, and Al-Qaeda in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). While they all share a radical Islamist ideology, Ansar Dine and Katiba Macina – both with strong local roots and a focus on Mali – have occasionally shown interest in negotiating with the Malian government. The government, in turn, has also been open to negotiations with them at times. In contrast, no such attempts have been made with AQIM, which has an explicitly transnational agenda. In Syria, we trace the development of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and focus on variations over time. Initially one of the most extreme Islamist actors in the Syrian civil war, HTS has gradually demonstrated respect for ceasefires and a willingness to explore dialogue. We demonstrate how these openings for conflict resolution are preceded and driven by localization.

‘The Show Must Go On(line)’ explores how the Brussels Bubble adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic, transforming crisis into an opportunity to redefine the boundaries of EU governance. As the virus disrupted face-to-face diplomacy in early 2020, the European Union’s institutions faced an unprecedented test: could the ‘compromise machine’ function without its traditional rituals of physical presence? This chapter traces the rapid shift to virtual formats, revealing how digital tools became both lifelines and sources of friction. COREPER ambassadors, deemed essential, continued in-person meetings, consolidating their influence, while others navigated the challenges of online negotiations – from ‘death by PowerPoint’ to the loss of informal corridor chats. Through the experiences of diplomats, interpreters and civil servants, the chapter illuminates the emotional and professional toll of ‘synthetic situations’, where screens replaced handshakes and digital skills became diplomatic currency.

The pandemic exposed and reinforced hierarchies, as access to physical spaces signaled status and power. Yet, it also spurred innovation, with virtual pre-meetings and new protocols becoming permanent fixtures. By 2025, the Bubble had embraced a hybrid model, reserving in-person gatherings for sensitive negotiations and using digital platforms for routine coordination. Ultimately, the crisis demonstrated that while the EU’s show could go on(line), the tension between digital efficiency and the irreplaceable value of face-to-face interaction remains at the heart of Brussels’ diplomatic culture.

This chapter deals with the peaceful settlement of disputes. It considers first the diplomatic methods of dispute settlement, being negotiation between the parties, the use of good offices and mediation by a third party, inquiry by a third party and conciliation by a third party producing a non-binding report. Relevant international instruments and cases are noted. The role of regional organisations is then covered, examining the functions of the African Union, the Organization of American States, the Arab League, and the various European institutions. The position of the specialised agencies of the UN is noted. The chapter next turns to the settlement of international economic disputes from the World Trade Organization, regional institutions, the World Bank, to the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes and other mechanisms, including the use of bilateral investment treaties. Finally, the chapter considers arbitration as a binding method of third-party dispute settlement.

This chapter begins by elaborating on the concept of a dispute, before providing a historical perspective on the evolution of the requirement to settle disputes peacefully. The chapter then explores diplomatic and legal methods of dispute settlement. Diplomatic forms of dispute settlement (also known as political or non-legal forms of dispute settlement) include negotiation, mediation, inquiry, and conciliation. Legal forms of dispute settlement include arbitration and adjudication. Resort by states to dispute settlement procedures, and in particular legal methods of dispute settlement, has grown exponentially in the last decades. Since the 1990s, the International Court of Justice has had an increasingly active docket of cases; in addition, the Permanent Court of Arbitration has undergone a sort of renaissance. The focus of this chapter is on the settlement of inter-state disputes, as opposed to disputes between states and non-state actors or between non-state actors.

This Epilogue documents the colonial coal regime’s struggle for survival during the twilight of French colonialism in Indochina. It also examines the closure and decolonization of large-scale coal mining enterprises and discusses the legacy of coal mining in postcolonial Vietnam.

Conflicts with adversaries can sometimes be unavoidable. Decision making in conflict can be unpleasant, stressful, and troubling. Success in an adversarial situation will not necessarily be achieved by the participant with the better initial position, but rather by the decision maker who is experienced in conflict situations, understands the dynamics of conflict, and is able to outsmart their adversary. This chapter differentiates between interests, disputes, and conflicts. Methods for conflict resolution are outlined as well as strategies for prevailing in a conflict. The chapter summarizes institutions in society where some disputes or conflicts may be addressed. Important structural similarities found in many disputes and conflicts are highlighted, including the different approaches of offense and defense, and the impact of timing and movement. Whether the parties to the conflict are individuals, corporations, or nations confronting each other at a negotiating table, a courtroom, or in a military battlespace, many of the strategies, dynamics, and interactions are the same.

Having examined dominant statutory reversion mechanisms, this chapter shows why contracts between creators and rightsholders are not adequate repositories for reversion rights. It presents the results of a study into Australian publishing agreements, demonstrating concerning deficiencies in contractual reversion rights. It also presents results from Untapped, a project dedicated to the revitalisation of important pieces of out-of-print literary heritage in Australia. These results show the difficulties of enforcing contractual reversion rights. Cumulatively, the chapter shows that the contractual model cannot be consistently relied on to provide these rights for creators, and thus that models in law should be considered (which is the focus of the next chapter).