Multiparty Negotiations

ELEMENTS OF INTERNATIONAL LEGAL NEGOTIATION

SUMMARY

CHAPTER 10: MULTIPLE PARTIES AND TEAMS

Adrián Racines M.

Multiparty negotiations are more complex than one-on-one negotiations. When we talk about a multiparty negotiation, we have to consider the fact that when many people or parties participates in a negotiation, there will be lots of opinions and interests that need to arrive to a consensus.

A bigger negotiation (a negotiation that involves the active participation of more people) represents much more challenges for managing several different perspectives and own or shared interests for each party that are going to be treated at the negotiation table.

It’s important to remark the need to actively monitor and manage the negotiation process situations that are significantly more complex than two-party negotiations. Multilateral negotiations also involves much more information than the usual one-on-one negotiations. As size increases, more values, interests and perceptions have to be integrated.

It is necessary to mention that the social environment in a multiparty negotiation is distinct than in one-on-one negotiations. Social circumstances may make the parties of the negotiation about their own interests, the other’s interests, and about solutions that could satisfy multilateral interests.

In fact, is very clear that when numerous parties have to take a part in a negotiation, each one of them will ensure to reach a solution that may leave everybody satisfied. But we have to note that each party also has its own interests, so each party will use lots of persuasive tactics to present its point of view to the others, looking for support to it.

Also, we have to mention that the procedure that parties must take in a multiparty negotiation is wide more complicated than the process in the ordinary one-on-one negotiation. Negotiations tend to take longer because of the complexity, for example, of the turns that the parties has to talk. Everybody wants and deserves to present their point of view, but usually it causes a disorder in the negotiation. Is evident that if the negotiation takes longer, the parties must decide how they want to approach multiple issues on the table. (Parties tend to discuss multiple issues at the same time, without an order).

Talking about strategies taken by the parties, is important to remind that multiparty negotiations are more strategically complex than one-on-one ones. Negotiators in multiparty negotiations have to be careful with the behavior of all the other negotiators, instead of only one.

If we’re talking about multiparty negotiations, is important to talk about effective groups too. In effective groups, negotiators have to follow some rules to reach a successful agreement. The most important of them are: First, they have to test assumptions and interests (make their own ideas about their and the

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