Negotiation Capacity Research Articles

Security of Energy Supply: Comparing Scenarios from a European Perspective

This paper compares different results from a set of energy scenarios produced by international energy experts, in order to analyze projections on increasing European external energy dependence and vulnerability. Comparison among different scenarios constitutes the basis of a critical review of existing energy security policies, suggesting alternative or complementary future actions. According to the analysis, the main risks and negative impacts in the long term could be the increasing risk of collusion among exporters due to growing dependence of industrialized countries and insufficient diversification; and a risk of demand/supply imbalance, with consequent instability for exporting regions due to insufficient demand, and lack of infrastructures due to insufficient supply. Cooperation with exporting countries enhancing investments in production capacity, and with developing countries in order to reinforce negotiation capacity of energy importing countries seem to be the most effective policies at international level.

Multilevel Governance and Business Interests in the European Union

The article analyzes how business interests responded to European integration. It draws on survey data of eight hundred German, French, British, and European Union (EU) trade associations as well as thirty‐four large firms. The argument is that the multilevel governance approach to European integration captures the realities of EU interest intermediation better than neofunctionalism and intergovernmentalism. The article suggests that the strategies of interest organizations depend mainly on their location in the EU multilevel system and on their governance capacities. I distinguish two kinds of governance capacities: negotiation capacities and organizational resources. The analysis proceeds in the following steps: After outlining the three theories of European integration and presenting their implications for interest groups, a brief overview of the relative importance for interest organizations of EU and national institutions over time is provided. Then, cluster analysis techniques serve to identify types of interest groups according to their lobbying strategies in the multilevel system: niche organizations, occasional players, traditionalists, EU players, and multilevel players are distinguished. The composition of these clusters and the characteristics of their members support the multilevel governance approach and indicate that multilevel players have greater governance capacities than organizations in the other clusters.

The Impact of the Abuse of Males on Intimate Relationships

SUMMARY A history of emotional and physical abuse, either in childhood or as part of a military or paramilitary experience, can profoundly affect a man's desire and capacity for intimacy and negotiation in long term relationships. Common consequences of abuse, such as observational learning of abusive behavior, identification with the aggressor, or fear of acting like the aggressor, are described in terms of their potential impact on couples. Examples are drawn from men with histories of abuse in childhood or in the military.

Water management decentralisation in the Red River Delta, Vietnam: an uncompleted transition process towards local governance

This paper presents an analysis of the Red River Delta (RRD) water control system. In order to get a better understanding of the current situation, the paper starts with a description of the changes to the technical and organisational framework of the RRD over the last 30 years. The results of the investigation conducted at the level of a primary hydraulic unit are presented, information on local dynamics are provided and the participation of each concerned actor, from central to local level, is detailed. A comparison with the general findings from a broad range of studies shows that there is not such a big difference between current and design pumping capacity as was generally thought. Management state agencies decreased their irrigation capacity but the gap was filled by the development of local pumping stations, managed by localities. It seems that rather than a question of the age of the pumping stations and the lack of investment devoted to hydraulics, management difficulties are due to inappropriate recognition and an unequal capacity for negotiation of each involved actor.

Sociobiology and the Moral Status of Nonhuman Animals

RD. Alexander (1987) has proposed that the ultimate grounds of ethics are evolutionary. Humans have the capacity for moral reasoning and negotiation, together with a system of appropriate emotions, such as shame and guilt when we do wrong, and a sense ofmoral wellbeing when we do right, because these abilities tended to increase our ancestors' inclusive fitness in the past. Fairly simple mathematical models can illustrate how this could work-one example is the Prisoner's Dilemma problem in which two individuals must act cooperatively if they are to maximise their 'survival points' over a series of interactions (Axelrod, 1984). In the Prisoner's Dilemma, mutual cooperation leads to an intermediate score for both parties; mutual defection gives both a low score, but if one cooperates and the other defects, then the cooperator scores no points, while the defector scores maximum points. Over a series of games the program that achieved the best scores was one called TIT FOR TAT, which cooperated unless its partner defected, but after a defection subsequently did whatever the partner did on the previous round, thus 'punishing' defection and 'rewarding' cooperation. It might appear tllat an evolutionary tlleory of the origin of ethics can never be compatible with the inclusion of nonhumans in our moral systems, because any tendency to give weight to their interests would always be disadvantageous; would tend to reduce inclusive fitness, and hence would involve a basic conflict with the ultimate grounds of human ethics. I hope to show that this strong view of the impossibility of animal rights is untrue, although there are grounds for holding a weaker view that proposes that, when interests conflict, humans will always have some tendency to favour relatives over non-relatives, friends over strangers, and other humans over nonhumans. Alexander himself believes (pp. 156ff.) that tlle selective value of indirect reciprocity may be enough to account for a human tendency to give sentient animals some status in their moral systems. He suggests that a person who (for example) was observed by other humans to be kind and reliable when handling pet animals would appear to them to be more trustworthy than someone who behaved cruelly. Trustworthy people would tend to be given preferential treatment, and, if it is true that behaviour towards animals tends to be a good predictor of future behaviour towards other humans, then tllere would be selection both for kindness towards animals and for a tendency to approve of such kindness in other people. The approvers benefit by being able to make successful predictions about the behaviour of other people because they are enabled to 'invest' help in partners who are likely to reciprocate.

Technology and the world economy: The case of the American hemisphere

We live in a complex international setting in which technology has an ever-growing influence on the world economy. The diffusion of technologies is one factor in the globalization of the marketplace which influences the transculturation process, resulting in shifts in national preferences, values, and aspirations. The progressive pluralism in international trade contrasts sharply with the growing bipolarity in the strategic and military affairs of the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. From a strictly economic standpoint, the heightened struggle between the two superpowers diverts resources that both countries could more usefully apply to the problems of their relationships with other countries. The development of the Latin American and Caribbean countries is affected by these continuously changing international influences. Many of the problems confronting our societies are linked to such international phenomena as the debt crises, which affects both debtors and creditors. Despite these problems, Latin American and Caribbean countries are engaging in greater international activity, and their policies and proposals are receiving more attention in hemispheric and global affairs. The region is heterogeneous and includes countries of varied complexity and history. Despite these differences, a basic solidarity is evident in their international actions, and the region is perceived by the rest of the world as a unified whole. This gives Latin America a particular capacity for action and negotiation that can be best used by setting joint and independent positions.

Level of social-cognitive development, adaptive functioning, and DSM-III diagnoses in adolescent offspring of parents with affective disorders: Implications of the development of the capacity for mutuality.

This study examines the relation between the developmental social-cognitive capacity for interpersonal negotiation and both parental-risk and adolescent-outcome variables in 172 adolescents 11 to 19 years of age. The sample was divided into two groups: those at risk because of affective disorder in one or both of their parents and a comparison group whose parents have never experienced affective illness. Adolescents' interpersonal negotiation strategy (INS) levels were negatively associated with the duration of parental affective illness (and with associated lower socioeconomic status and marital discord). INS level significantly predicted adolescents' adaptive social functioning (AFR) even after controlling for age, sex, intelligence, number of adolescent diagnoses, and parental-risk factors. Two additioaal patterns were found in the risk group: adolescents with both high AFR and high INS, and adolescents who have disturbed functioning despite high INS, These findings are consistent with a risk model in which social-cognitive capacity mediates between parental disorder and adaptive child behavior, and they suggest the importance of assessing children at risk with a developmental measure of relational capacity to complement the more traditional diagnostic and behavioral outcome measures.

Reivindicaciones urbanas y organización popular : el caso de Durango

De acuerdo con una tesis generalizada hasta mediados de los años setenta, y todavía vigente, las organizaciones de colonos e inquilinos pobres en México creen en la legitimidad de las instituciones del sistema y, en buena parte, las apoyan. Sus demandas se encuentran subordinadas y cooptadas por el Estado y rechazan la vinculación con los partidos de izquierda. En cuanto a los movimientos urbano-populares independientes, se sostiene actualmente que su número es reducido, constituyendo manifestaciones colectivas de escasa duración, con bajo nivel de politización y sin capacidad de iniciativa ni de formulación de propuestas urbanas alternativas.A través de un estudio de caso, en este artículo se somete a revisión la versión relativa a los movimientos urbanos populares autónomos, centrándose en el análisis de una organización que surgió en Durango, una ciudad de tamaño medio que posee un bajo índice de industrialización. A partir de 1972 e incorporando las experiencias de movimientos locales anteriores, el Comité de Defensa Popular (CDP) lucha por demandas tanto urbanas como políticas y culturales. El Comité está avanzando en su consolidación interna, ha brindado solidaridad y establecido alianzas con otros grupos independientes de la localidad y está desarrollando una labor importante para unificar las diferentes organizaciones independientes que reivindican demandas similares en el país. Por ello, posee una dinámica propia y una proyección política, constituyendo una de las fuerzas importantes a nivel local, ya que nuclea contingentes similares o mayores que los que integran las organizaciones paralelas del estado de Durango.El caso estudiado demuestra que la hegemonía del Estado en este terreno es modificable, que las luchas de las mayorías urbanas no deben necesariamente realizarse a través de una relación clientelista, con él y, asimismo que los movimientos urbanos populares independientes están avanzando en su estructuración interna y en sus niveles de politización.