International Negotiations in the Digital Age


Moscow State Institute of International Relations (University)




International
Negotiations in the Digital Age

M. M. Lebedeva, E. S. Zinovieva

Textbook for Bachelor and Master Students

АСПЕКТ ПРЕСС
Moscow 2022

УДК
ББК

327
66.4
Л33

Published with support
of the Priority 2030 Strategic Academic Leadership Programme


priOnty2O3OA

leaders are made, not born


Reviewers:
Professor T. A. Alekseeva, PhD (Philosophy) Professor N. A. Tsvetkova, PhD (History)


       Lebedeva M. M., Zinovieva E. S.
Л33 International Negotiations in the Digital Age: Textbook. Moscow: Aspect Press Ltd., 2022. - 242 p.

          ISBN 978-5-7567-1244-5

          The textbook is designed to teach the technology of international negotiations in the digital age. The first section presents an overview of scientific research on the process of negotiation. The second section contains the basics of negotiation technologies. The third section covers various types of international negotiations. The fourth section describes the main areas of the transformation of negotiation technologies brought about by global digital transformation.
          For bachelor and master students of universities in the field of international relations and foreign regional studies.


УДК 327
ББК 66.4








ISBN 978-5-7567-1244-5

             © M. M. Lebedeva, E. S. Zinovieva, 2022
             © MGIMO University, 2022
                                       © Aspect Press Ltd., 2022


Все учебники издательства «Аспект Пресс» на сайте и в интернет-магазине https://aspectpress.ru

                Contents







Foreword .................................................................... 5
Introduction ................................................................ 7
Section 1.  International Negotiations: General Characteristics ............ 11
    Chapter 1.   International Negotiations Research ....................... 11
           1.1. Major aspects of the analysis of international negotiations . . . 11
           1.2. Foreign studies of the international negotiations .......... 13
           1.3. Russian research of international negotiations ............. 18
    Chapter 2.   International Negotiations as a Practice .................. 25
           2.1.  Conditions necessary for negotiations to start ............ 25
           2.2.  Functions of international negotiations ................... 29
           2.3.  Features of human activity in negotiation ................. 35
           2.4. Approaches to the classification of international negotiations ................................... 40
    Chapter 3.   Communication During International Negotiations ........... 46
           3.1.  The importance of communication ........................... 46
           3.2.  Non-verbal means of communication in negotiations ......... 50
    Chapter 4.   Perception and Decision Making in International Negotiations ........................................ 59
           4.1.  The role of perception in negotiations .................... 59
           4.2.  Decisions in international negotiations ................... 65
Section 2.  Preparing for and Holding International Negotiations ........... 71
    Chapter 5.   The Main Parameters of Preparation for Negotiations ....... 71
           5.1. Conditions for the start of negotiations in conflicts and crisis ...................................................... 71
           5.2.  Organizational issues in the preparation for negotiations . 79
           5.3.  Preparation for negotiations ...............................85

3

    Chapter 6.  Structure of the International Negotiation Process ...... 91
           6.1. Two basic negotiation strategies ........................ 91
           6.2. Stages of negotiation and ways to submit one’s position . 99
           6.3. Tactics in international negotiations .................. 106
          6.4.  The problem of flexibility and strength of positions in negotiating ............................................... 117
Section 3.  Features of Conducting Various Types of International Negotiations .......................................... 129
           Chapter 7.  High-Level and Multilateral Negotiations ........ 129
          7.1.  Organization and conduct of negotiations at the summit and high levels ................................ 129
           7.2. Multilateral and multi-level negotiations .............. 132
Chapter 8.  National and Personal Styles of International Negotiations ....................................................... 141
           8.1. National negotiating styles ............................ 141
           8.2. Personal negotiation style ............................. 151
    Chapter 9.  Mediation in International Negotiations ................ 165
           9.1. Challenges facing the mediator ......................... 165
           9.2. Mediation techniques ................................... 170
          9.3.  Requirements for a mediator and the major difficulties they may face ................................................ 174
Section 4. The Impact of Global Digital Transformation on International Negotiations .......................................... 187
    Chapter 10.   Digital Technologies in International Negotiations ... 187
           10.1. Trends in the digitalization of international negotiations . . . 187
           10.2. The digital dimension of negotiation practice ......... 191
    Chapter 11.   Social Media in Modern Diplomacy ..................... 202
           11.1. Digital public diplomacy .............................. 202
           11.2. Digital tools in mediation ............................ 207
Methodological    Recommendations ...................................... 215
Appendix ............................................................... 242

                Foreword





        by the Rector of the MGIMO University, Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Anatoly V. Torkunov








                Theory without practice and practice without theory is nothing.
Protagoras

Professional diplomatic training is acquiring an ever-increasing importance in the modern world. The tasks that diplomats are facing amid the formation of the multipolar world order require complex knowledge and skills. MGIMO University is the centre of the professional diplomatic training in the Russian Federation and has a long educational tradition in teaching in international negotiations, which reflects classical approaches in this area, as well as current technological trends.
   Teaching international negotiations is an important part of the professional training of diplomatic staff. Research and teaching in the field of international negotiations at MGIMO has a long history. Back during the Cold War, the MGIMO Problem Research Laboratory of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union studied the negotiation process. Researcher working in the Laboratory identified certain constants of international negotiations - the main stages and other structural features of the negotiation process. Research focused on negotiations technologies, which involve negotiation strategies as well as the advantages and limitations of various tactics. Another field of research was the analysis of personal and national negotiating styles. In addition, MGIMO Laboratory was the first to create a computer model of the negotiation process in the CSCE back in the 1980s. The main results of the research have been widely disseminated in the academic community.
   However, negotiators face new tasks in the modern digital age: mastering big data; understanding the role of data and artificial intelli

5

FOREWORD

gence in the negotiation process; and assessing how digital technologies influence public opinion at various stages of the negotiation process. Digital transformation breeds new forms of diplomatic work, including the use of social media in public diplomacy, the analysis of data in the course of foreign policy planning, etc.
   Global and ubiquitous digitalization requires the formation of new skills for diplomats and professional negotiators, which include knowing the basics of negotiating technologies, understanding the nature of the modern digital revolution and the ability to use digital technologies in diplomatic work. This textbook is aimed at the formation of these professional skills.

                Introduction








Research on international negotiation has a long history. However, the study of conflicts, both in terms of the number of works and how long the issue has interested researchers, surpasses international negotiations research. In other words, the phenomenon of conflicts initially attracted more research attention than conflict resolution.
   A surge in the study of negotiations took place in the second half of the 20th century, when the dramatic events of the bipolar confrontation were finally resolved. The need to deal with a vast number of local and regional conflicts, as well as issues of international security and international cooperation, stimulated the negotiation practice, and as a result, spurred research in the field of negotiations. The second half of the 20th century is marked by a significant increase in multilateral negotiations within international organizations and unions, as well as conferences to solve international problems and ad hoc multilateral meetings. As a result, a special diplomatic practice was formed, termed conference diplomacy. In the second half of the 20th century, negotiations were actively used in trade and business relations, and in tackling social disputes.
   In the 20th century, interest in negotiations research increased during periods of detente and declined during periods of increased tension in relations among superpowers. Studies of international negotiations developed according to these fluctuations in practice. However, in the 1990s, the issue of international negotiations fell into the shadows. There seem to be two reasons for this: first, researchers made inroads into the analysis of negotiations, new topics and, perhaps most importantly, new ideas did not appear; second, and this is apparently key, a kind of euphoria from the pseudo ‘end of history’ emerged, which made international negotiations ‘not particularly necessary.’ The situation has changed in the 21st century. It became obvious that the contradictions had not disappeared and the conflicts had not ceased. At the same time, the world has entered

7

INTRODUCTION

the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and one of the most important trends in the new technological reality is digitalization.
   Throughout history, technological innovations have always changed economic, social and political relationships. The beginning of the 21st century is no exception. Modern society is undergoing a stage of large-scale digital transformation, which has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Even such a traditional and conservative field of activity as international diplomacy is undergoing digitalization. The practice of digital diplomacy, that is, the use of information and communications technologies, primarily social networks, in diplomatic work and international negotiations is becoming widespread.
   The scale of digitalization is unprecedented. At the end of 2021, approximately 66% of the world’s population had access to the internet.* The popularity of social networks soared during the pandemic - according to the Digital 2021 Report, 53.6% of the world’s population, or 4.2 billion people, have an account on at least one social network, which is 13% more than in 2020. On average, people spend more time watching the news on social media than they do on television.**
   The dynamics and trends in the use of social media, in turn, determine the directions and tendencies of diplomacy and international negotiations. Diplomats and employees of international organizations cannot ignore the new digital reality and are expanding their presence on various internet platforms.
   Today, diplomats run entire digital empires. Ambassadors to the UN use instant messengers to coordinate voting on various issues on the agenda of the organization, and press attaches of states to international organizations publish information about international agreements on their social media pages and use them to communicate with journalists.
   In addition, in the era of the COVID pandemic, international video conferencing, as well as the use of collaborative text editing technologies, have become widespread, which are also transforming the established negotiation practice.
   The current situation raises the need to develop new competencies among diplomats and professional negotiators, one that takes classical

* Internet Usage and Population Statistics. Internet World Stats 2021. Usage and Population Statistics, https://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm.

** Digital 2021: Global Overview Report. Datareportal. 2021, https://datareportal.com/ reports/digital-2021-global-overview-report.

8

INTRODUCTION

approaches to the study of negotiations and transformation of negotiation practice under the influence of digitalization into account.
   At the end of the last century, M.M. Lebedeva identified a number of constants of negotiation activity, which were used in teaching the negotiation process based on the theory of the preeminent Russian psychologist Piotr Galperin. The study of constants in negotiation is reflected in a number of books and articles, including textbooks. Guided by research into the study of negotiations, as well as simulation games as a methodology for teaching negotiations, M.M. Lebedeva prepared a textbook for bachelor and master’s students on the technology of international negotiations.
   Given the changes caused by the digital age, the task to develop new competencies among future negotiators is gaining importance. E.S. Zinovieva explored the main directions of the transformation of international negotiations under the influence of digital technologies, as well as the new phenomenon of digital public diplomacy in the context of modern negotiation practice. In this context, the manual describes the advantages and limitations of the use of digital technologies in negotiations.
   The textbook Technology of International Negotiations in the Digital Age is aimed at providing students with an accurate understanding of and professional skills in international negotiation practice in the new technological conditions.

    Literature:

Galperin, P.Y. Introduction to Psychology. Moscow: Moscow University Press, 1976.
Zinovieva, E.S. ‘Digital Diplomacy, International Security and Opportunities for Russia.’ Security Index, no. 1 (2013): 213-228.
Lebedeva, M.M. ‘Some Psychological Aspects of Conducting Simulation Games.’ Moscow State University Bulletin. Series 14. Psychology, no. 3 (1980): 72-78.
Lebedeva, M.M. Technology of International Negotiations. Moscow: Aspect Press, 2016.
Schwab, K. The Fourth Industrial Revolution. Moscow: Eksmo. 2016.
Kaufmann, J. Conference Diplomacy: An Introductory Analysis. Third revised edition. N.Y.: St. Martin's Press, 1996.
Manor, I. The Digitalization of Public Diplomacy. London: Palgrave McMillan, 2019.

9

Section 1




                International Negotiations General Characteristics







Chapter 1


            International Negotiations Research


        1.1. Major aspects of the analysis of international negotiations

Negotiation is one of the oldest types of human activity, which is aimed at solving problems in organizing cooperation or settling conflict situations. Negotiations have a history as old as conflicts and wars, and have been used in practice long before the advent of legal procedures. Of course, in the modern world, international negotiation practice has become much more complicated, acquired various forms, expanded the range of problems, etc. That said, negotiations continue to be a kind of ‘bridge’ between two other types of political activity identified by David Held - conflict and cooperation.¹
   Indeed, international conflicts, cooperation and negotiations are interconnected. ‘Struggle and cooperation are two sides of the same coin, it is a dialectical community of two opposite principles.’² Each side of this coin contains an element of the other. Even in the harsh conditions of war, elements of cooperation can appear - for example, the exchange of prisoners of war. It was only in the 1960s that scholars noted the fact that, in international relations conflict, is never ‘pure’ and implies that cooperation is not possible. First, Anatol Rapoport showed that all international conflicts can be split in three types, reflected in the title of his book Fights, Games and Debates. Only ‘fights,’ where opponents are divided by irrecon-

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Section 1. INTERNATIONAL NEGOTIATIONS: GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS

cilable contradictions, are aimed at victory. Other types of conflicts imply different degrees of cooperation.
   Thomas Schelling, who was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2005 (shared with mathematician Robert Aumann) for research on conflicts, further limited the possibility of conflicts with absolutely incompatible interests. He wrote that a ‘pure’ conflict ‘may arise in a war aimed at mutual destruction, although even in a war, it is unlikely.’³ Modern studies have promoted the understanding that international conflicts are not ‘pure’ conflicts, but represent situations where the parties have mixed interests that simultaneously coincide and diverge.
   In turn, there is always an element of competition in cooperative relationships, when parties have to defend national interests, have differences in approaches to assessing the international situation, and so on. In the 2000s, for example, serious disagreements arose within NATO regarding the invasion of Iraq. And in 1992, friction between the United States and the European Union over trade and tariffs even led to talk of a ‘trade war,’ although, of course, it was obvious that it would not come to a real war. There are many such examples. In the early 2020s, the trade and political confrontation between the United States and China has worsened, although this does not prevent the two countries from negotiating.
   Negotiations are in a dialectical relationship with conflict and cooperation. In the history of international relations, wars ended with peace negotiations, forceful pressure was often used as an incentive to start negotiations, and negotiations were undertaken to prevent or resolve conflicts, or, on the contrary, were conducted for tactical purposes in order to temporarily divert attention and further use military actions. At the same time, cooperation is unfeasible without negotiations. Many examples of this kind can be seen in the medieval history of Western Europe. It is through negotiations, as noted by Victor M. Sergeev, that parties build a foundation for joint activities in the future.⁴

   Important
   International negotiations are used to promote cooperation and resolve conflicts. They always contain elements of both competition and cooperation.

   International negotiations are the object of many sciences: world politics and international relations, the history of international relations, international law, psychology, etc. Accordingly, research tasks are set differ-12