Position In Negotiations Research Articles

“Adverse Forces” in the Brazilian Amazon: Developmentalism Versus Environmentalism and Indigenous Rights

Since the 1970s, the ghost of an “international conspiracy” to occupy the Brazilian Amazon has emerged against the backdrop of shifting social and political realities. This article looks at how Brazilian political elites and military forces have influenced national interpretations of environmentalism and indigenous peoples’ rights. It considers the formation of long-standing images and ideas perpetuated through economic plans like Avança Brasil , Growth Accelerated Program (PAC), and the Initiative for the Integration of Regional Infrastructure in South America (IIRSA) as well as international environmental initiatives such as on reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries (REDD). Environmentalists and indigenous peoples have been viewed as opponents to economic growth and barriers to development. These images reflect entrenched political positions within Brazilian society, largely unrecognized on the international stage but critical to understanding Brazil’s ambiguous positions in international negotiations.

What factors determine bargaining power and success in EU negotiations?

Negotiations in the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers are highly secretive, so outsiders have limited knowledge of the factors that determine bargaining power there. However, previous research has shown that gains and losses in these negotiations are relatively equally shared amongst the EU members and that the influence of exogenous power resources such as votes are more important than endogenous resources such as bargaining skill (Bailer 2004). Based on findings of the current literature on bargaining success in EU negotiations, I suggest several areas for future research – in particular regarding the partisan preferences of EU governments and the way this influences their coalition formation behaviour. More attention should also be paid to the context of these negotiations, their differing meeting frequencies and the resulting reciprocity logics. However, more efforts to generate and analyse data on negotiation positions will be necessary in order to see what bargaining power can achieve in the Council.

Dealing with surplus emissions in the climate negotiations after Copenhagen: What are the options for compromise?

This paper analyses the environmental and financial consequences of various strategies of dealing with surplus emission allowances in the aftermath of the Copenhagen Accord. This topic remains relevant, in particular, with respect to the Russian negotiation position, as this country is the largest holder of surplus emissions. It is concluded that not addressing the surplus problem is not a feasible negotiation option, as the sheer size of the surpluses would jeopardise the environmental integrity of any future agreement. Cancelling surpluses against Russia’s will, though viable, is not desirable, as it might well lead to this country opting out of this climate treaty. Three options for compromise have been selected and analysed here: (1) stricter targets for Annex I countries; (2) strategic reserve for Russia; (3) institutionalising optimal banking. It is concluded that, whereas option 1 is environmentally the best, in the present political context it is probably less feasible. The other two options, although environmentally suboptimal, seem politically more favourable. Our analysis suggests that maximal revenues for surplus-holding countries arise by releasing only a limited amount of surplus credits to the market. The institutionalisation of this effect could be a key lever to a politically feasible agreement on surplus emissions.

Chinese Steel Enterprises’ Strategies under the Pricing Model of Iron Ore in the World

With the global non-renewable resources’ shortage and prices rising, Chinese steel enterprises’ production costscontinue to grow. On the background of the global iron ore negotiation, the article analyzes the steel enterprise’svulnerable position in the iron ore negotiations and the influencing factors, and makes appropriaterecommendations from the perspective of industry chain integration, in order to improve Chinese steelenterprises’ bargaining power in the iron ore negotiation.

Europe and the new global economic order: internal diversity as liability and asset in managing globalization

The diversity of market economies that constitute the European Union (EU) presents both constraints and opportunities for Europe when it comes to shaping the post-neoliberal global economic order. Diversity is a constraint in that it often prevents strong common positions in global negotiations and thus undermines the ability of Europe to exercise its collective hard power resources. Paradoxically, however, the EU's enduring diversity over time has become the source of a different type of power that also provides Europe with opportunities to shape the nature of global economic governance. By reconciling commitments to greater economic openness and extensive multilateralism with national discretion, the EU enjoys ‘model power’. This type of power is based in specific institutional innovations within the EU that accommodate internal diversity and allow the EU to exercise important, if limited, influence over the substantive content and rules guiding the management of globalization.

China and the Doha Development Agenda

In contrast to early predictions during its accession, China has not sought to play a leadership role in the Doha Round negotiations or to rewrite WTO rules in a systemic manner. However, China’s role in the negotiations came into prominence during the ‘mini-ministerial’ held in Geneva in July 2008. Now included in the seven-member group (G-7), China came under fire from the United States and the European Union for failing to demonstrate greater leadership. This article seeks to explain the nature of that criticism and argues that over-reliance on the question of ‘Chinese leadership’ as an explanatory concept could aggravate broader misperceptions about China’s position in the Doha Round. According to these misperceptions, China has ‘broken cover’ and that it has become more ‘assertive’ while becoming more ‘protectionist’. In other words, there is the view today that China has emerged as a fresh obstacle to the conclusion of the Doha Round talks. This article analyses that misreading and argues that an analysis of China’s position in the negotiations must be tempered by a more nuanced understanding of certain tensions and mixed positions within China’s overall approach. The article seeks to explain China’s current position in the goods negotiations, on agriculture and non-agricultural market access, and in the services and rules negotiations. It also tries to explain the complexities of China’s alignment with developing country members and how that is likely to translate into various negotiating positions on specific issues. Finally, the article discusses a range of factors that are likely to play an important, continuing role in shaping China’s perception of specific trade issues and, more importantly, its perception of the overall worth of an eventual outcome to the Doha Round. These range from China’s reflections on the success of the 2001 accession process, its domestic political constraints, the emergence of a successful FTA programme, and resort to out-of- WTO aid for developing country nations, as well as the potential longer term impact of the current global economic crisis.

Can CCO theory tell us how organizing is distinct from markets, networking, belonging to a community, or supporting a social movement?

McPhee and Zaug (2009) advanced a theory that organizations are constituted by the four communication processes of membership negotiation, organizational self-structuring, activity coordination, and institutional positioning. My argument here is that in order to say what organizational constitution entails, we must consider what is distinctive about an organization as compared with any other collective. Examples of other types of collectives include markets such as car sales, networks such as walking enthusiasts who communicate with each other, communities such as cities, and social movements such as gay rights. A theory of communication as constitutive of organizing (CCO; see Putnam & Nicotera, 2009, the subject of this forum) must, in my view, be able to show how organizations are formed and maintained rather than say markets or networks. I use and extend the same logic as McPhee and Zaug use when they argue how groups of friends are not an organization. My argument is that McPhee and Zaug's model can also apply to these other collective forms and thus that it is insufficiently organizational.

Leaders in need of followers: Emerging powers in global governance

Emerging powers such as Brazil and Germany increasingly articulate their desire for leadership in global governance. Examples comprise the bids for permanent membership in the UN Security Council and the founding of the G20 at the WTO meeting in Cancùn. Emerging powers, however, often fail to achieve their goals. This article focuses on followership as a core condition for success and failure of emerging power leadership in global governance. I argue that in order to perform successfully, any leadership must be accepted by followers and that followership depends on the credible inclusion of the interests and/or ideas of potential followers into the leadership project. This argument is tested in case studies on Brazil’s and Germany’s bids for structural power in the UNSC, for directorship in international organizations and for policy positions in the WTO trade negotiations.

ON THE ANTICOMPETITIVE EFFECT OF EXCLUSIVE DEALING WHEN ENTRY BY MERGER IS POSSIBLE*

AbstractWe extend the literature on exclusive dealing by allowing the incumbent and the potential entrant to merge. This uncovers new effects. First, exclusive dealing can be used to improve the incumbent's bargaining position in the merger negotiation. Second, the incumbent finds it easier to elicit the buyer's acceptance of exclusivity. Third, despite allowing the more efficient technology to find its way into the industry, exclusive dealing reduces welfare because (i) it may trigger entry through merger whereas independent entry would be socially optimal and (ii) it may deter entry altogether.

Asean and Trade Integration

This paper reviews the progress in trade-related areas of ASEAN Economic Community to be established by 2015. It provides empirical evidence and qualitative analysis on how the process of trade integration worked and what could have been done for it to have worked better. Where appropriate it elaborates on forces or institutions driving the process of integration. The paper uses descriptive statistics and some off-the-shelf indicators to track progress in trade integration which is the main pillar of building ASEAN Economic Community. Second part of the paper examines the progress in building effective integration with the other trading partners. Three different but inter-related issues are analyzed: 1) ASEAN in world economy in terms of relative size, discrimination of other partners in trade, and treatment that ASEAN obtains in importing markets of developed countries compared to average of all developing countries; 2) the WTO membership and negotiation positioning of individual ASEAN members, and 3) the role of bilateral and plurilateral preferential trade agreements of ASEAN member countries and of the ASEAN as a bloc.

High Stakes in a Complex Game: A Snapshot of the Climate Change Negotiating Positions of Major Developing Country Emitters

Developing countries with large greenhouse gas emissions play a decisive role in negotiating a post-Kyoto climate agreement. No effective program to reduce global emissions is possible without their support. At the same time, developing countries face a delicate task in balancing their growing responsibility for a livable climate with the pursuit of continued economic development. This article discusses the negotiating positions major developing country emitters are taking on core issues. Among the most vital unsettled questions are burden sharing between developed and developing countries, the role of the market in the international climate architecture, as well as implementation arrangements. An annex discusses current mitigation policies of major developing country emitters, and argues that developing countries are already taking meaningful action to limit the growth of their greenhouse gas emissions.

Political strategy and climate policy: a rational choice perspective

Rational choice models are employed to explain both the formation of states' domestically derived negotiation positions on climate change and the dynamics of these international negotiations. This analysis leads to the identification of a number of promising political strategies: taking steps to enlarge the membership of environmental non-governmental organisations; assessing whether the resources of these organisations would be more effectively spent on campaign contributions rather than other activities; using organisations such as the World Bank to assist developing countries to strengthen civil society in these countries; stepping up information campaigns; re-balancing abatement costs between the EU and the US; and making abatement more efficient by introducing an international emissions cap and trade scheme.

A science–policy interface in the global south: the politics of carbon sinks and science in Brazil

The IPCC and other global environmental assessment processes stress the need for national scientific participation to ensure decision makers’ trust in the associated scientific conclusions and political agendas. The underpinning assumption is that the relationship between scientists and decision makers at the national level is characterized by trust and interpretive synergy. Drawing on ethnographic research in Brazil, this article challenges that assumption through a case study of the policy uptake of divergent scientific interpretations as to whether or not the Amazon is a net carbon sink. It shows that the carbon sink issue became a site for struggles between important Brazilian scientists and decision-makers with central authority over the definition of the country’s official position in international climate negotiations. In a geopolitically charged scientific controversy involving scientific evidence bearing on the Kyoto Protocol, Brazilian decision makers studied revealed critical distance from national scientists advancing evidence that the Amazon is a net carbon sink. As such, the decision-makers’ interpretations were at odds also with dominant framings in the Brazilian media and closer to those of American scientists involved in carbon cycle research in the Amazon. Seeking to explain this disconnect, the paper discusses the divergent policy preferences of key scientists and decision-makers involved, and the correlations of these preferences with interpretations of the available scientific evidence. It identifies the continued impact of a national political tradition of limited participation in decision making and suggests that this tradition—while increasingly challenged by countervailing democratizing trends—is reinforced by key Brazilian decision makers’ constructions of science as a medium through which rich countries maintain political advantage. Reflecting this, key Brazilian decision-makers justified rejecting national scientists’ interpretations of the Amazon as a significant overall carbon sink by suggesting that the scientists’ scientific training and associated foreign interactions bias them in favor of foreign interests, compromising their ability to accurately identify national interests. The paper situates its analysis in terms of theories of the science–policy interface and argues for greater attention to the role of culturally and politically laden understandings of science and the role of science in policy and geopolitics.

Transparency in pricing arrangements for medicines listed on the Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme

Australia's system for assessing the cost-effectiveness of drugs for listing under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) is recognised internationally. A variety of mechanisms, such as evidence-based rules for determining eligibility for initial or continuing subsidy, price-volume agreements, rebates, and caps on government expenditure are used to contain PBS expenditures. In this paper we assess the extent of use of special pricing arrangements in Australia and how and where they are communicated to health professionals and the community. We searched publicly available documents published by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Pricing Authority (PBPA). We found 73 medicines where special pricing arrangements had been applied and where prices appearing on the Schedule of Pharmaceutical Benefits might differ from those considered to be "cost-effective" by the PBAC. Reporting of these special pricing agreements was inconsistent and generally non-transparent. In some, the lack of transparency may have reflected the desire of manufacturers to disguise the true negotiated price, lest it weaken their negotiation position in other jurisdictions.

A climate of obstinacy: symbolic politics in Australian and Canadian policy

Despite sharing a large number of attributes, Canada and Australia's foreign policy positions in international climate negotiations have varied significantly. Given the similarities in variables affecting climate policy, how do we explain the variation in foreign policy responses to climate change between the two countries? Rational choice and domestic political analyses have failed to fully explain the observed variation. National responses to climate change in Australia and Canada appear to be significantly shaped by ideational forces as well. In particular, political leaders have pursued symbolic climate policies to cultivate national identities for two distinct audiences—international partners and domestic voters. International climate policy positions have been frequently used as communication tools by both states with the resulting climate positions bearing little relationship to each government's domestic climate policies. The Australian and Canadian cases raise important questions regarding the relationship between foreign policy commitments and related domestic policy reforms, which have substantial implications for the effectiveness of global efforts to address climate change.

Contenciosos brasileiros na Organização Mundial do Comércio (OMC): pauta comercial, política e instituições

O presente estudo busca analisar a formulação da política comercial brasileira, de relevância e complexidade crescentes, no caso das demandas brasileiras ao Órgão de Solução de Controvérsias (OSC) da Organização Mundial do Comércio (OMC). Examina-se a centralização de tal política no Poder Executivo com foco em seus processos decisórios, a partir do contexto econômico e político pertinente para a seleção das demandas apresentadas a tal mecanismo de solução de controvérsias. Além de se perscrutar o funcionamento da Câmara de Comércio Exterior (Camex) e sua interação com outros órgãos estatais, investiga-se a dinâmica da condução dos contenciosos e de suas repercussões na agenda comercial da OMC. Constata-se que, à margem do desenho institucional focalizado na Camex, a escolha das demandas responde à pauta comercial e ao impacto nas negociações internacionais do país, acompanhando a pauta de exportação e os principais parceiros comerciais do Brasil, no marco da Rodada Doha da OMC. Marcadas por constrangimentos internos e externos, portanto, as estratégias sobre litígios comerciais internacionais demandam transparência e cooperação aperfeiçoadas com o setor privado.

Escaping the unemployment trap: The case of East Germany

This paper addresses the question of why high unemployment rates tend to persist even after their proximate causes have been reversed (e.g., after wages relative to productivity have fallen). We suggest that the longer people are unemployed, the greater is their cumulative likelihood of falling into a low-productivity trap, through the attrition of skills and work habits. We develop a model along these lines, which allows us to bridge the gap between high macroeconomic employment persistence versus relatively high microeconomic labor market flow numbers. We calibrate the model for East Germany and examine the effectiveness of three employment policies in this context: (i) a weakening of workers' position in wage negotiations due to a drop in the replacement rate or firing costs, leading to a fall in wages, (ii) hiring subsidies, and (iii) training subsidies. We show that the employment effects of these policies depend crucially on whether low-productivity traps are present.

Traditional Knowledge and Geographical Indications: Foundations, Interests and Negotiating Positions

The Doha Development Agenda (DDA) introduced the idea of protecting Traditional Knowledge (TK) into multilateral trade negotiations. In parallel, it discusses enhanced protection of Geographical Indications (GIs) for agricultural products, beyond the current levels of protection based upon unfair competition. Both TK and GIs bear the potential to enhance diversification of products based upon sustainable agriculture. Both concepts are specifically addressed in the Doha Ministerial Declaration (DMD) of 14 November 2001 in paragraphs 18 and 19, respectively, relating to the TRIPs Agreement.1 The DMD provides that WTO members extend protection of GIs to wines and spirits and address the inclusion of other products. It mandates the TRIPs Council to address Traditional Knowledge in reviewing the agreement under Article 71.1 of the TRIPs Agreement. Under the DDA, any reform must take into account the development dimension. The purpose of this paper is to describe i) the legal, economic, ecological and societal precepts shaping TK and GIs, ii) the legal framework for TK and GIs in the context of international trade regulation, iii) the work undertaken in international organisations, iv) positive norms of the WTO Agreements treating of TK and GIs, and v) the diverging negotiating positions of WTO members towards complementing the system of legal protection for TK and GIs. It provides a survey of the state of play in different fora and the difficulties to bring about coherence in this new and complex field located at the intersections of agriculture, intellectual property and development.

Contractive distributed MPC for consensus in networks of single- and double-integrators

In this paper we propose an application of distributed model predictive control techniques to the problem of driving a group of autonomous agents towards a consensus point, i.e. a negotiated position in their state space. Agents are assumed to be governed by discrete-time single- or double-integrator dynamics and the communication network can be directed and time-varying. Our control protocols are called “contractive” due to a specific constraint imposed on the agents’ state path. Consensus is formally proven, also in presence of bounds on the norm of the inputs, by means of a geometrical analysis of the optimal paths.

Ireland and the WTO: Dancing at the Crossroads?

Ireland's position in the global economy is not one that allows it to assert great influence. Ireland has a small, open economy, buttressed by its membership of the WTO. Certainly, Ireland's great economic upturn of the past twenty years has placed it as country to be envied and indeed copied in economic reform. This, however, has not translated into power at global trade talks. Membership of the EU further obscures Ireland's global economic position because, as a result of this membership, Ireland's global economic agenda is subsumed into that of the EU and the EU itself is a member of the WTO. Thus, Ireland's agenda is two-pronged: first to influence EU policy-making and second to ensure that EU policy is followed through at WTO level. Irish government strategy, at present, focuses on agricultural protectionism, with all other sectors of the Irish economy taking secondary importance. This paper examines the overall impact of the Doha Development Round for Ireland. It is clear that tensions continue to exist between Ireland's traditional support for agricultural protectionism and the needs of its new 'knowledge economy', and between Ireland's overall negotiation position and its international development policy as expressed through Irish Aid.