Below are the first 10 and last 10 pages of uncorrected machine-read text (when available) of this chapter, followed by the top 30 algorithmically extracted key phrases from the chapter as a whole.
Intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text on the opening pages of each chapter.
Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.
Do not use for reproduction, copying, pasting, or reading; exclusively for search engines.
OCR for page 57
NEGOTIATION
The System of International Negotiations
as a Means of Managing Interdependence
VIKTOR A. KREMENYUK
International negotiations are growing in number and diversity. Not
only are the traditional issues, such as national security, borders, trade, and
communications being negotiated, but various subjects from the spheres
of scientific and cultural exchange, humanitarian problems, environment,
outer space, and oceans as well.
This growth in international negotiations is an indicator of a much
more significant underlying process the process of formation of a cer-
tain system of international negotiations. It is not the mere number of
international negotiations that makes one conclude that there is a system,
although the rapidly, even dramatically, growing number of these nego-
tiations has already drawn the attention of many analysts. It is, instead,
the growing interaction among international negotiations. This interaction
reflects such crucial processes as the growing interdependence of nations
and of disputable issues among them, the increasing impotence of tradi-
tional ways of resolving conflicts (such as military), and the increasing need
to recognize negotiation as the only possible institutionalized and codified
way of resolving international disputes. This means that any international
negotiation can be regarded not only within the framework of the foreign
policy of the nations involved, but also within the framework of the system
of negotiation itself.
The system of international relations is in a transitional stage. Struc-
turally, it is shifting from the bipolar world of the 1950s to a much more
diversified world. On the functional side, this shift is accompanied by
the changing nature of traditional means of interaction among states: the
value of military power has diminished, and the value of economic power
has also changed. The rising importance of humanitarian issues brings a
new dimension to traditional power alignments and interactions. Another
57
OCR for page 58
58
SOVIET-AMERICAN DIALOGUE IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES
important changer in international relations is the growing interdependence
of nations, particularly in matters of security.
The process of growing interdependence develops not only extensively
(including new spheres in which nations become dependent on each other)
but also intensively: that is, the spheres in which countries find themselves
dependent on each other also become interdependent (for example, the
interdependence of security and economy, the arms race and development,
the economy and environments.
A number of controversial issues have appeared at the intersections
of spheres of interdependence. Sometimes these issues have a very tra-
ditional character: controversies and conflicts in security, trade, finance,
environment, and so on. But if one looks at them from the perspective of
the environment in which they exist, it becomes clear that they form an
interconnected and mutually dependent network of conflicts. Such conflicts
have the ability to escalate, thus producing multi-layered conflicts in which
ideological, religious-ethnic, or other issues are interconnected. The grow-
ing complexity of international relations produces correspondingly complex
controversies and conflicts,~and these should be adequately treated.
In this context, international negotiation is regarded as the main means
of conflict resolution, which, together with the unilateral actions of nations,
can contribute to keeping international relations stable and predictable.
What are the main features that appear in international negotiations as a
result of these changes in the system of international relations?
First, the emerging system of international negotiations tends to reflect
both in its structure and in its essence the existing system of conflicts
and disputes. Hence, it has become more universal, incorporating formal
negotiations and consultations, and the informal talks and meetings of
government officials, experts, public figures, and other persons engaged
in exchanging views and ideas about ways of resolving problems. The
mere existence of this huge international structure should be regarded as
a kind of- environment within which some specific rules of conduct exist:
nonviolence, adherence to joint problem solving, cooperation, and so on.
Second, this system tends to become more autonomous. A negotiation
may be created only by the sovereign will of the parties involved, but once
in existence, it becomes somewhat estranged from that will; it becomes a
part of the system and is plugged into the system through the information
flows, interplay of interests, influence of the observing parties, and so on.
Third, once it is part of a system, a negotiation has to respond to the
needs and elements of that system. The main demand is that it contribute
to the stability and optimization of the system. Entropy of the system can
be prevented not through stagnation of an individual part, but through
efficient operation, which means the successful and timely resolution of a
conflict.
OCR for page 59
NEGOTIAT ON
59
Fourth, the above places an additional burden on the process of inter-
national negotiation. Thus far, its main function was to serve the interest
of the parties engaged. With the emergence of a system of negotiation,
however, parties to any international negotiation.have to take into consid-
eration not only their interests at that particular negotiation, but also the
whole array of their interests and positions at other negotiations, even the
state of affairs at other negotiations. The decision making process becomes
magnified and complicated.
Thus, international negotiations are changing from a government-to-
government activity to an autonomous international function that can be
used as a means of managing an interdependent world.
Recognizing the fact of international interdependence under conditions
in which only peaceful means of managing international conflict are relevant
puts the matter of negotiations much higher on the agenda of international
relations. Recognizing that there is a system of negotiations puts into proper
perspective the approach to resolving the complex disputes and conflicts of
an interdependent world. Looking a bit farther, one can see that the only
way to- put the principle.of.negotiations as a means of management into
practice is to.institutionalize this system further in the form of international
agencies, regimes, standing committees, and regular meetings which can
turn the age-old practice of negotiation into a standard, universal tool for
managing international relations - .
Representative terms from entire chapter:
international relations
