Advances in preference uncertainty and status quo analysis are developed for use in conflict resolution and applied to real world disputes. Preference uncertainty extends the graph model for conflict resolution to uncertain territory by introducing a new preference relation that allows a decision-maker to express his or her uncertainty in preference between two states. Status quo analysis addresses concerns about the reachability of potential resolutions from a status quo state and about how decision-makers may act and interact to direct a conflict to an achievable resolution.; A critical component of the graph model is decision-makers' preference rankings over feasible states, considered as outcomes. When the stability of a state for a decision-maker is assessed, the preference ranking of this decision maker, sometimes along with its opponents' preferences, plays a central role, in that the preference determines whether a move results in an advantageous position. To accommodate the need for a decision-maker to express its uncertain preference between two states, a new binary relation is introduced. Along with the existing strict preference—one state is strictly preferred to another—and indifference—the decision-maker is indifferent between two states—this new preference structure explicitly incorporates uncertainty into decision-makers' preferences in a conflict model. Four of the graph model solution concepts are extended for use with this new preference framework. Because decision-makers may possess distinct attitudes toward risk associated with uncertainty in preferences, four different implementations of preference uncertainty are developed as distinct stability definition sets. Then the interrelationships of the solution concepts within each extension, and across the extensions, are investigated. Illustrative examples demonstrate how these new developments can be applied in real-world conflict situations and what significant insights can be gleaned, even when preference information for some or all decision-makers contains some uncertainty.; Within the paradigm of the graph model, a conflict is conceived to evolve from an initial state, called the status quo state, by means of unilateral moves (changes of state) by the decision-makers. Status quo analysis refers to the identification of path(s) from the status quo state to a specified outcome (often, a predicted resolution). (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
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