Deadlocks in Multilateral Negotiations Causes and Solutions

Examines the causes and consequences of deadlocks in multilateral settings, and analyses strategies for breaking them.

Deadlocks are a feature of everyday life, as well as high politics. This volume focuses on the concept, causes, and consequences of deadlocks in multilateral settings, and analyses the types of strategies that could be used to break them. It commences with a definition of deadlock, hypothesises about its occurrence, and proposes solutions. Each chapter then makes an original contribution to the issue of deadlock – theoretical, methodological, or empirical – and further tests the original concepts and hypotheses, either theoretically or through case-study analysis, developing or altering them accordingly. This is a unique volume which provides an in-depth examination of the problem of deadlock and a more thorough understanding of specific negotiation problems than has ever been done before. It will be directly relevant to students, researchers, teachers, and scholars of negotiation and will also be of interest to practitioners involved in negotiation and diplomacy.

Introduction Amrita Narlikar; Part I. Disciplinary Insights: 1. The politics of deadlock Andrew Gamble; 2. From Bretton Woods to Havana: multilateral deadlocks in historical perspective Martin Daunton; 3. Talking one's ways out of strikes William Brown; 4. Litigating the way out of deadlock: the WTO, the EU and the UN Markus W. Gehring; Part II. Case Studies: 5. Transatlantic intransigence in the Doha Round: domestic politics and the difficulty of compromise Alasdair R. Young; 6. Know the enemy: uncertainty and deadlock in the WTO Amrita Narlikar and Pieter van Houten; 7. Entering the zone of agreement: the United States in climate change negotiations Sevasti-Eleni Vezirgiannidou; 8. The role of informal negotiation processes in breaking deadlocks: the UN Security Council Jochen Prantl; 9. Negotiating international policies on Kosovo Pieter van Houten; 10. Beyond negotiation deadlocks: the importance of mediation and leadership change Jacob Bercovitch and Carmela Lutmar; Conclusion. Case studies as evidence: lessons learned Daniel Druckman and Amrita Narlikar.

Deadlocks are a feature of everyday life, as well as high politics. This unique volume provides an in-depth examination of the problem of deadlocks in multilateral settings. An interdisciplinary team of contributors use a range of theories, methods and case-studies to analyse deadlocks and strategies for breaking them.

Amrita Narlikar is University Senior Lecturer in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Darwin College. She is the author of International Trade and Developing Countries: Bargaining Coalitions in the GATT and WTO (2003) and The World Trade Organization: A Very Short Introduction (2005), and is co-editor of Leadership and Change in the Multilateral Trading System (2009).