CIDCM People: Jonathan Wilkenfeld

Jonathan Wilkenfeld is currently the Associate Provost and Associate Vice President, International Programs at the University of Maryland, as well as an affiliate and professor and prior chair of the Department of Government and Politics.

He is a specialist in foreign policy decision making and crisis behavior, as well as in the use of simulation in political science. Since 1977, Wilkenfeld has served as co-Director (with Michael Brecher) of the International Crisis Behavior Project, a cross-national study of international crises in the twentieth century. The project has served as the basis for systematic research into a range of crucial foreign-policy issues, including state motivations during times of crisis, conflict management practices, and protracted conflict trajectories.

He also guides CIDCM's training initiative, which provides decision-makers with interactive training experiences in the fields of conflict behavior, negotiation, and crisis management. The development of the International Communication and Negotiation Simulations (ICONS) Project grew out of his long-term interest in integrating technology and simulation techniques into the teaching of negotiation and international politics. Under his direction, the ICONS Project won numerous awards for innovation and excellence, including in 1994, the Distinguished Program Award presented by the Maryland Association for Higher Education for the ICONS instructional model, and in 2001 the University of Maryland Award for Innovation in Teaching with Technology.

His most recent books include A Study of Crisis (1997 and 2000, with Michael Brecher); Negotiating a Complex World (1999 and 2005, with Brigid Starkey and Mark Boyer); and Mediating International Crises (2005, with Victor Asal, David Quinn, and Kathleen Young). This latest work focuses on the use of experimental techniques to study the mediation process in international crisis negotiations and how decision makers learn from previous crisis experience.