Fairness Issues in Negotiation: Structure, Process, Procedures and Outcome

Albin, C. (1992). Fairness Issues in Negotiation: Structure, Process, Procedures and Outcome. IIASA Working Paper. IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria: WP-92-088

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Abstract

One of the objectives of IIASA's Project on the Processes of International Negotiation PIN) is to examine how fair and mutually beneficial agreements on transboundary environmental problems can be reached, especially between parties who each wish to satisfy their own interests and their own criteria of fairness and equity which may not coincide. Scientifically reasoned solutions to transboundary problems -- the type that IIASA models often generate -- may represent ideal answers, but are practical only if they satisfy the disputants' principles of justice and fairness.

Thus, a critically important dimension of negotiation analysis must be to identify these basic principles and assess the opportunities for convergence in fairness beliefs among disputants. If this can be accomplished, the scientific tools used to explore alternate scenarios and strategies can be more sharply honed to reflect the realities of national interests and acceptability by framing the problem and reasonable solutions in a practical light.

This paper reviews the literature and develops a framework for conceptualizing the role played by fairness in international negotiation. It is planned that applications of this framework will be performed concerning transboundary environmental conflicts. A prime candidate for application will be the case of long-range transboundary air pollution in Europe, where PIN Project staff can collaborate with analysts working on IIASA's Regional Acidification Information and Simulation (RAINS) model.

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