International Negotiation

PREREQUISITES: NI074 – Conflict Management

1. JUSTIFICATION:
International negotiations increasingly emerges as a highly specialised academic field in
which multiple disciplines converge, including International Law, International Relations,
International Economy and International Business. The dynamics of the global economy and
trade liberalisation requires that international business students understand the features and
complexities of decision-making in international trade relations. This course is particularly
focussed in international trade/economic negotiations and parallel issues such as
environment, intellectual property rights, investment, good governance practices,
competition and labour rights. Although it gives special significance to the role of States in
the multilateral and regional trade negotiations, it also considers the importance of the
private sector, intergovernmental organisations (IGOs), non-governmental organisations
(NGOs) and even the media. Such actors are of great importance, not only for the adoption
of negotiation agendas or mandates but also in processes associated with dispute
settlement and the implementation of international agreements.
2. GENERAL OBJECTIVES (Learning Outcomes)
• To understand the context and processes of international trade negotiations.
• To identify different theoretical frameworks for the analysis of international trade
negotiations and trade disputes.
• To outline the factors influencing the outcomes of key international negotiations and
trade disputes.
• To evaluate critically the involvement of stakeholders in different international trade
negotiations and trade disputes.
• To design negotiation proposals and to draft negotiation agreements involving trade
related issues.
• To explore the different levels of the decision-making process in international
negotiations.

WEEK 1: Course Introduction
Specific Objectives:
To present the contents of the syllabus, key concepts, readings methodology, rules of the
course and evaluation.
Readings: None
WEEK 2: ‘What Does it Take to be an International Economic Negotiator?
Specific Objectives:
To understand the particular dynamics of international trade/economic negotiations and to
identify the complexities of this emerging discipline.
Topics
• International Trade Negotiations and International Business: Two different realities?
• The World Trading System and the rules of the game for international trade negotiators
• The content of international economic/trade negotiations
• Decision making process in a two-level game.
Readings:
Tortora, Manuela, ‘What Does it Take to be an International Economic Negotiator? (Conference
Paper, EAFIT 2007),’ 2007, 20.
World Trade Organization, ‘Understanding the WTO’ (available online in PDF document)

Kremenyuk, Victor, ‘International Negotiation: Analysis, Approaches, Issues.’ in Victor
Kremenyuk (ed), The Emerging System of International Negotiation. (2nd edn, Jossey-Bass
(Wiley) 2002), 22.
WEEK 3: Features of International Negotiation
Specific Objectives:
To analyse the numerous features and characteristics of international negotiations. In this
module students are required study and apply the analytical model proposed by Starkey, Boyer
and Wilkenfeld to particular cases. This theoretical approach addresses international negotiation
using the analogy of a board game ‘as an organising technique,’ and it is used in order to
understand the wide variety of actors intervening in the process and planning of negotiations.
This module also addresses the impact of domestic level-politics in decision making for
international trade negotiations.
Topics:
• The Board
• The Players
• The Stakes
• The Moves
• The Outcomes
Readings:
Starkey, Brigid, Mark A. Boyer, and Jonathan Wilkenfeld, Negotiating a Complex World: An
Introduction to International Negotiation (Rowman & Littlefield 2005), 178.
Case Studies
World Trade Organization, Managing the Challenges of WTO Participation, Case Study 44
‘Public and Private Participation in Agricultural Negotiations: The Experience of Venezuela.’ <
http://www.wto.org/english/res_e/booksp_e/casestudies_e/case44_e.htm>
World Trade Organization, Managing the Challenges of WTO Participation, Case Study 30
‘Nepal: The Role of an NGO in Support of Accession’ <
http://www.wto.org/english/res_e/booksp_e/casestudies_e/case30_e.htm>
Resources
World Trade Organization, Business and the WTO (video)

WEEK 4: Planning International Negotiations: The Negotiator’s Logbook
Specific Objective
To apply the Negotiator’s Logbook to specific scenarios for international negotiation. This tool
will facilitate students to categorise useful information in order to support negotiation strategies
or the design of negotiation agendas.
Readings:
Starkey, Brigid, Mark A. Boyer, and Jonathan Wilkenfeld, Negotiating a Complex World: An
Introduction to International Negotiation (Rowman & Littlefield 2005), 178.
The Negotiator’s Logbook (digital material available in EAFIT INTERACTIVA)
Case study:
Ecoland-Measures Related to Biofuels Made from Pine Cones. Case Author: Professor Bradly
Condon.)
WEEK 5: First Midterm Exam
Commercial Diplomacy (I)
Specific Objective
To understand the numerous interests and potential tensions in international trade/economic
negotiations, inter alia, domestic and institutional sector interests and coalitions. To familiarise
students with the role of trade negotiators representing the government, the industry or specific
sectors of civil society.
Topics
• Investment and Trade Promotion as a professional field for International Negotiators
• International Economic Agenda
• Links between trade policy, International business and commercial diplomacy
• The Role of the Government, Business and Interests Groups
Readings:
Naray, Olivier, ‘Commercial Diplomacy: A Conceptual Overview’ (7th World Conference of
TPOs – The Hague, The Netherlands 2008), 1.
Naray, Olivier, ‘What a Good Commercial Diplomat Has to Know and Be Capable Of’)

accessed 23 January 2015.
Lee, Donna, and Huub Ruel, ‘Introduction: Commercial Diplomacy and International Business’
in Commercial Diplomacy and International Business: A Conceptual and Empirical Exploration
(Emerald Group Publishing 2012), vix-xix (available thorugh Google Books) <
https://books.google.com.co/books?id=6ElJJl8avhkC&pg=PA24&lpg=PA24&dq=Commercial+Di
plomacy:+a+conceptual+overview&source=bl&ots=5buh811Glh&sig=Q1527ifM0lrseyxGUMjfUY
mFlsw&hl=en&sa=X&ei=g07CVKrXIuaIsQSgqoLIAQ&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Commercial
%20Diplomacy%3A%20a%20conceptual%20overview&f=false>
Recommended
Bayne, Nicholas, and Stephen Woolcock, The New Economic Diplomacy: Decision-making and
Negotiation in International Economic Relations (Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. 2011), 426.
WEEK 6: Commercial Diplomacy (II)
Specific Objective
To understand the numerous interests and potential tensions in international trade/economic
negotiations, inter alia, domestic and institutional sector interests and coalitions. To familiarise
students with the role of trade negotiators representing the government, the industry or specific
sectors of civil society.
Topics
• Creating coalitions for international trade negotiations
• The multi-level character of economic diplomacy: challenges for business and trade
negotiators.
• Collecting key information and data for international trade negotiations.
Readings
World Trade Organization, Managing the Challenges of WTO Participation, Case Study 28 ‘
Mexico’s Agricultural Trade Policies: International Commitments and Domestic Pressure.’
Morales, Moreno, Isidro <
http://www.wto.org/english/res_e/booksp_e/casestudies_e/case28_e.htm>
Case study (to be confirmed)
***Domestic constituencies and stakeholders in Colombia’s key trade negotiations
Resources
International Trade Centre, Market Info & Tools < http://www.intracen.org/itc/market-info-tools/>
UNCTAD, Trade Negotiations and Commercial Diplomacy <
http://unctad.org/en/Pages/DITC/TNCD/Trade-Negotiations-and-Commercial-Diplomacy-.aspx>
WEEK 7: Regional vs. Multilateral Trade Negotiations
Specific Objective:
To analyse challenges and opportunities in the proliferation of regional and bilateral trade
agreements. Students will address the question of whether regional and preferential trade
agreements may undermine multilateral trade negotiations.
Topics
• Scope of multilateral trade negotiations
• Scope of Regional and Preferential Trade Agreements
• The Enabling Clause
• The case of environmental goods and services in multilateral trade negotiations in the
Doha Round.
Readings
Schott, JJ, ‘The Future of the Multilateral Trading System in a Multi-Polar World’ (Discussion
Paper / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik 2008), 22.
http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iie.com%2Fpublications%2Fpapers%2Fschott0608.pdf&ei=aa7CVK6kF
_WMsQTm_oDoBg&usg=AFQjCNHxCHhVM4033dMErkbx9oDLTea9w&bvm=bv.84349003,d.cWc>
Resources
World Trade Organization, Regional Trade Agreements

WTO Debate Plurilateralism and Multilaterali
concessions) and those related to the liberalisation of services (schedule of commitments),
specially taking into account key interests and concerns of developing countries.
Topics
• Multilateral Services Negotiations
• Key Areas of Services Negotiations
• The four modes of supplying services
• Challenges for the negotiation of services in bilateral and regional negotiations (the
Colombian case)
Readings
Hoekman, Bernard, ‘The Next Round of Services Negotiations:’ (Federal Reserve Bank of
St.Louis 2000), 31 < http://research.stlouisfed.org/publications/review/00/07/0007bh.pdf>
Resources
World Trade Organization, Services Negotiations
< http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/serv_e/s_negs_e.htm>
WEEK 12: Negotiating Non-Tariff Barriers: Technical Barriers to Trade
Specific Objectives
To understand why domestic concerns matter in international negotiations and why the socalled
“right to regulate” or ‘behind the border rule-making’ may serve as a non-tariff barrier
proxy when implementing international trade agreements. Students will analyse the importance
of this topic for stakeholders, specially the extent to which international trade negotiations and
trade law seek to achieve a balance between promotion of international trade and protection of
legitimate domestic interests. Topics include concerns on food safety and public health, product
quality and consumer protection, environmental protection, national, regional and international
standardization, and the impact of such measures on developing countries (mainly SMEs).
Topics
. Product Standards
. Types of Non-Tariff Barriers
. TBT and SPS measures
. TBT Information Management System
. Standards and Safety
Readings
Kysar, Douglas, ‘Preferences for Processes: The Process/Product Distinction and the
Regulation of Consumer Choice’ (2004) 118 Harvard Law Review, 525.
WTO, ‘World Trade Report 2012.Trade and Public Policies: A Closer Look at Non-Tariff
Measures in the 21th Century’ (WTO 2012), 252.
Resources
World Trade Organization, Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS)
ex_e.htm?id=A19#selected_agreement>
World Trade Organization,Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT)
ex_e.htm?id=A22#selected_agreement>
WEEK 13: Trade and Environment Negotiations
Specific Objectives
To analyse the characteristics and process of the current negotiations on environmental goods
and services, both at the multilateral and plurilateral levels. Students will address the question of
to what extent sustainable development and trade liberalisation can be compatible goals. In
addition, they will assess whether the plurilateral Initiative on Environmental Goods announced
at the World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos in January 2014 may benefit or undermine the
interests of developing countries.
Topics
• Definition and classification of EGS
• Negotiation groups and coalitions
• From the multilateral deadlock to the plurilateral negotiation initiative launched in Davos
Readings
‘Negotiations to End Tariffs on Environmental Goods - NYTimes.com’ 2014)

accessed 25 January 2015.
Vikhlyaev, Alexey, ‘Environmental Goods and Services: Defining Negotiations or Negotiating
Definitions?’ (UNCTAD 2001), 33.
WEEK 14 and 15: Dispute Settlement for Trade Conflicts
Specific Objectives
To understand how international trade disputes are settled in the WTO when negotiations fail.
Student will be familiar with the different stages of a typical trade dispute and will analyse the
different issues and dynamics involved in such process. International Negotiators should
understand what is at stake at this level in order to be able to make proposals intended to avoid
this onerous and time-consuming scenario for governments and the private sector.
Topics:
• Stages of a trade dispute
• Suspension of concessions
• Avoiding trade disputes: an emerging field for international negotiators?
Resources
World Trade Organization, Dispute Settlement Training Module <
http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/disp_settlement_cbt_e/intro1_e.htm>

WEEK 16: Final Exam, Remarks and Balance of the Course 
First Midterm Exam 20%
Workshop 15%
Second Midterm Exam 20%
Presentation/Simulation 15%
Final Exam 30%