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Negotiation
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Essence and Evolution
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Diplomatic Negotiation
Essence and Evolution
Paul Meerts
Clingendael 2015
This monograph was defended and published as a dissertation on 4 November 2014.
Cover: Picture of the secret final negotiations on the German First World War reparations in the room
of British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald in the Hôtel Beau-Rivage (Lausanne, 1932), taken
by Dr. Erich Salomon (Berlin 1886–Auschwitz 1944), inventor of the ‘candid camera’. French Prime
Minister Briand called him ‘le roi des indiscrets’.
Cover photo: bpk Photo Agency / Erich Salomon; source: De Vries and Hunter, 1963
Language editor: Rebecca Solheim
Index: Sander des Tombe
Layout: Textcetera, The Hague
Print: Gildeprint, Enschede
ISBN 978-94-610-8781-2
NUR 805
Copyright: P.W. Meerts / Clingendael Institute, The Hague / 1st edition 2014, 2nd slightly revised
edition, 2015
[email protected]
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval
system of any nature, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronically, mechanically, by
photocopying, microfilming, recording, or otherwise, without prior permission from the author.
Dedication: To my ancestors, who negotiated for survival,
and to my wife, children and grandchildren who taught me bargaining.
Table of Contents
Preface 11
Chapter I: Introduction and Disquisition 17
The architecture of international negotiation 21
Academics and Practitioners 22
Parties and Interests 24
Process and Power 27
Bashing or Bargaining 29
Approaches to international negotiation 31
Approaches from ‘International Negotiation’ 32
Approaches from Other Sources 37
In Conclusion 42
PART ONE THE NATURE OF DIPLOMATIC NEGOTIATION: 45
Chapter II: Aspects of Diplomatic Negotiation 47
The development of diplomatic negotiation 50
The Problem of Establishing Outcomes 53
Changes over the Centuries 55
Characteristics of diplomatic negotiation 57
Conflict of Interest and Power Relationships 59
Inter-state Negotiations 61
The Diplomat and Negotiation Behaviour 63
In Conclusion 65
Chapter III: Process and Context 67
Boundaries in bargaining 71
Geography: Bargaining Borders 72
Systems as Boundaries in Bargaining Processes 74
Needs: the role of interests and positions 75
Resources: Human, Immaterial and Material 76
Regulators: Law, Procedures, and Diplomatic Norms and Values 77
The Time Factor 79
Order through organization 80
Regimes 80
Regimes and Negotiations 82
Shifts in Multilateralism 84
Coping with Challenges 85
Possible Future Developments 87
In Conclusion 88
8 Diplomatic Negotiation
Chapter IV: Entrapment in Negotiation 91
Characteristics: Choice, Uncertainty, Investment, Repetition 94
Levels: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, National, International 101
Factors: Planning, Information, Communication, Control 106
Case Study: Four lessons 110
In Conclusion 113
Chapter V: Negotiation and Warfare 115
The utility of War and Words 118
Historical Background 119
Commonalities 121
Divergences 125
Synergies 127
Mediation 130
In Conclusion 133
PART TWO THE CONDUCT OF DIPLOMATIC NEGOTIATION: 137
Chapter VI: The Seventeenth Century: Forward- and Backward-Looking
Outcomes 139
Parties and Positions 143
Procedures and Processes 148
People and Posture 151
Prevention and Prospectiveness 157
In Conclusion 161
Chapter VII: The Eighteenth Century: Behaviour of Negotiators 163
What was it about? 165
The Political Context 167
Pre-negotiations 169
Negotiations 170
Negotiators 172
Other Congresses on Dutch Soil 174
The Peace of Utrecht in a Broader Perspective 175
Past and Present: The Effective Negotiator 178
In Conclusion 180
Chapter VIII: The Nineteenth Century: Inclusiveness and Exclusiveness 183
Choice 187
Context 190
Counterparts 193
Structure 199
Conversations 202
Convergence 206
In Conclusion 212
Table of Contents 9
Chapter IX: The Twentieth Century: Reputation and ‘Egotiation’ 217
Closure of the First World War 222
The Outer Ring 223
The Inner Ring 224
Opening and Closure of the Second World War 228
Munich, 1938 229
Yalta, 1945 232
During the Cold War 234
Vienna, 1961 234
Beijing and Moscow, 1972 236
Geneva, 1985 239
In Conclusion 240
Chapter X: The Twenty-First Century: Structure and Negotiation 243
Uniqueness and Strength of the Organization 246
The Role of the Negotiation Process 247
Characteristics of the EU as a Negotiations Arena 249
Member States in the EU Negotiation Process 252
Procedures of the EU Negotiation Process 254
Institutions in the EU Negotiation Process 254
The Presidency in the EU Negotiation Process 256
The European Council in the EU Negotiation Process 257
The Council of Ministers in the EU Negotiation Process 258
The European Parliament in the EU Negotiation Process 259
The Commission as the Initiator, Implementer and Broker 260
EU Enlargement and External Negotiations 261
Strategies and Tactics in EU Negotiation Processes 263
The Future of the EU Negotiation Process 265
In Conclusion 268
Chapter XI: Simulating Diplomatic Negotiation 271
Unilateral lessons for chairing 274
Chairing in the European Union 276
Effective Chairing 278
Bilateral lessons for practice 281
The Nature of Negotiation in an OSI Context 283
Training for On-site Inspection Negotiations 287
CTBTO Table-Top Exercises: What Are They About? 289
CTBTO Table-Top Exercises: What Happened and Why? 291
Multilateral lessons for practice 295
Substance 296
Rules of the game 298
Processes and Outcomes 300
Comparable Games 302
In Conclusion 303
10 Diplomatic Negotiation
Chapter XII: Summary and Conclusions 307
The Nature of Diplomatic Negotiation 311
The Conduct of Diplomatic Negotiation 315
Cross-Cutting Findings 321
Actors 323
Factors 324
Process 326
Control 326
Recommendations 328
Samenvatting 331
Bibliography 341
Glossary 367
Acknowledgements 371
Curriculum Vitae 375
Index 379
Preface
This treatise is a study on international diplomatic negotiation processes and their
context. Diplomatic negotiation processes are vital instruments in international relations
between countries and in international organizations. In article 33.1 of Chapter VI of the
Charter of the United Nations, concerning the ‘Pacific Settlement of Disputes’, negotiation
is mentioned as the first instrument of seven methods to be used in cases of conflict:
‘The parties to any dispute, the continuance of which is likely to endanger the maintenance
of international peace and security, shall, first of all, seek a solution by negotiation, enquiry,
mediation, conciliation, arbitration, judicial settlement, resort to regional agencies or
arrangements, or other peaceful means of their own choice’ (https://treaties.un.org/doc/
publication). Furthermore, in its 83rd plenary meeting on 8 December 1998, the United
Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 53/101 on ‘Principles and Guidelines for
International Negotiations’ (www.refworld.org/docid/3b00f5254a.html). In the preamble,
it stresses ‘the important role constructive and effective negotiations can play in attaining
the purposes of the Charter by contributing to the management of international relations’.
The resolution provides principles and guidelines, hoping that these will ‘contribute to
enhancing the predictability of negotiating parties, reducing uncertainty and promoting
an atmosphere of trust at negotiations’. In its second operative paragraph, it ‘Affirms the
importance of conducting negotiations in accordance with international law in a manner
compatible with and conducive to the achievement of the stated objective of negotiations’.
The name ‘diplomatic’ is perhaps not completely accurate – inter-state or ‘inter-nation’
might be more precise – but it seems to make good sense to use ‘diplomatic’ as the term
commonly understood for international negotiations in the public sector, playing a pivotal
role in peaceful conflict resolution. After all, it had already been said in 1716 (Callières,
1983: 70) that ‘States reap so many advantages from continual negotiations, when they are
managed with prudence, that it is not possible to believe it, where one does not know it by
experience’. This book will use the term international negotiation in the sense of diplomatic
negotiation – that is, inter-state negotiation processes between sovereign states in and
outside international organizations, being tied to the intra-state processes in which the
national positions are determined. As the term ‘international negotiation’ is the most
common terminology to be used by those who deal with diplomatic negotiation processes,
the two terms will be used interchangeably. This book defines diplomatic negotiation as an
exchange of concessions and compensations in a framework of international order accepted
by sovereign entities. Such a peaceful process will only be successful if there is enough
common ground between the adversaries. Effective diplomatic negotiators will diagnose
– and if needed create – this common space.
This treatise has been written in the tradition of Clingendael Institute’s PIN program,
and after two decades at the International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
in Laxenburg. According to the PIN tradition, there is no one-way street on negotiation.
There are, of course, books – often originating in North America – that are a great help
