Processes of International Negotiations

Mautner-Markhof, F. (1989). Processes of International Negotiations. Boulder: Westview Press. ISBN 0-8133-7721-8

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Abstract

Negotiations are essential mechanisms for the peaceful resolution of disputes and for maintaining stability in international relations. Negotiations can and should contribute to predictability, equity, and security among states. In achieving these goals, negotiations become important confidence-building measures.

The increasing role of negotiations and of international organizations for managing the system of international order and for pursuing/achieving states' interests/policies through peaceful means has produced a fundamental evolution in the agenda, functions, and intensity of international negotiations.

In the view of both researchers and negotiators over the recent past, the negotiations process that is organized along traditional lines is becoming more complex, difficult, and less effective. The processes of negotiations are in general taking more and more time and lagging behind the evolution of the international environment. Not only are the issues themselves more complex, but also, in the implementation of any agreements reached, the resolution of the issues involved will need to take place over a longer time and therefore to be managed jointly or multilaterally.

Because of the increasing complexity of issues and the fast pace of changes affecting both national and international interests, it has become essential for international agreements to contain sufficient flexibility in certain of their provisions to permit dealing with uncertainty and the needs of the parties to adapt to new and changing circumstances. In this sense, international negotiations and agreements must be not only reactive but also anticipatory.

These considerations indicate that a much-needed approach is one which is concerned specifically with bringing about a multinational, multicultural, and multidisciplinary understanding of and perspective on international negotiations and which also bridges the gap between practitioners and researchers.

A specific objective and unique aspect of the IIASA Project on the Processes of International Negotiations (PIN Project), which started in April 1986 and was funded by the Carnegie Corporation, is the international, multidisciplinary approach brought to bear on all of the Project's activities. This was especially evident at the IIASA Conference on the Processes of International Negotiations, held in May 1987. The PIN networks in IIASA's member countries played an essential role in this Conference. To keep the focus of the work on substantive issues and on relevant applications-oriented results, while taking into account the importance and impact of different cultural and political systems in the various national approaches to negotiations, both practitioners and researchers involved in the processes of negotiations made presentations at the PIN Conference and took part in the panel discussions. These presentations form the basis for the chapters of this book.

The goals of the Conference were to foster increased communication and understanding between practitioners and researchers and among various research disciplines, to present and discuss research results, and to identify possible future research activities. The participation and interaction of both high-level negotiations practitioners and researchers were considered especially valuable and unique aspects of the Conference.

All of the subjects dealt with at the Conference have direct and obvious relevance to improving negotiations outcomes on, and the ability to deal effectively with, such issues as the transboundary effects (environmental, economic, etc.) of technological risk, security and confidence-building measures, and international economic cooperation -- all of which are high on the negotiations agenda of many countries.

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