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And 13 Negotiations

6 important questions on And 13 Negotiations

What are the two general ways domestic politics influence negotiations?

CONSTRAINTS:
Affects the possible outcomes of the negotiations by constraining the negotiator to find an agreement that will be accepted domestically (two-level games).

AUDIENCE COSTS:

Negotiations take place in the eye of the public, and this is more so the case when there is a transparent negotiation process. This afffects the evaluation of the negotiation outcome.

What is the Schelling conjecture? And what are some examples of how it works?

Schelling conjecture:
Being domestically constrained can be a benefit in international negotiations.
Examples:
Institutionalised domestic constraints:
Parliaments (ratification rules), coalition governments, referendums, veto player (direct effect)

Other relevant constraints:
Public opinion, interest groups (indidrect effect)

What does Clarke et al. Find about three-level games?

Builds on the logic of two-level games: The EU has an advantage over e.g. the US, because while the US has the original two-level game with domestic constraints. The EU is a three-level game with constraints both at the EU-level and the domestic level.
EU: Negotiations à Council of ministers and EU Parliament à Domestic

What does Fearon argue about warfare and negotiations?

Audience costs in warfare:
Argument: The side with greater audience costs will be less likely to back down (democracies).

Between countries information is never complete. To find out what the other side is willing to do, you can signal and make statements.

However this generates attention, and history shows that incumbants have been punished more for escalating and then backing down, than for not escalating at all.
à At some point, it becomes rational not to back down.

What does Stasavage argue about transparency of negotiations?

Open-door vs. closed-door bargaining:
Advantages of open door:
-Representatives propose policies preferred by their constituents

Disadvantages of open door:
-Signaling: representatives might adopt overly agressive bargaining positions that lead to breakdown in negotiations

- In sum: More accountability, but not neccesarily a better outcome for constituents.
- Good as a constraint when representatives and constituents do not share policy preference.

What does Weiss argue in relation to national constraints on international poltics?

He argues that autocratic leaders also can leverage the benefit of constraints by allowing mass mobilization of nationalist protests. It signals: ”I might be overthrown if I make these concessions.”

So he argues that it is not true that democracies would be more able to use this type of constraint argument.

The question on the page originate from the summary of the following study material:

Domestic Politics and International Relations

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