(IP) Negotiations as Multi-Party Joint Decision-Making

Jan Walter

The main purpose of this seminar is to turn away from understanding negotiations as competition with a winner and a looser and rather to appreciate negotiations for their potential to enlarge the pie, the value of the final result. For a good negotiator to be able to reap the benefits, phase of preparations is not to be underestimated. This is especially so with the world of multilateral negotiations turning from monetary-based bargaining to value-based argumentation. Two intertwined angles will be offered – the science of negotiation and the art thereof.

The seminar will strive to go further, to multilateral dimension. Due to general demands for higher transparency in any negotiations and the growing number of relevant players in international organizations, the number of actors and stakeholders is on the rise. Multilateral is an increasingly common form of negotiations – in business, public sector, inter-governmental arena. The lecture will explore the potential benefits and pitfalls of third-party intervention, for example mediation, facilitation or chairing. Further, if time permits, coalition-building, coalition-maintenance and coalition-destruction will be examined as useful but dangerous tools to use.

Practical examples mainly, but not exclusively, from international IP negotiations will be used to support the notions.