Endgame at the Kennedy round: A case study of multilateral economic diplomacy

During the details stage of multilateral economic talks, agreements are usually negotiated using a combination of two methods - compromise on individual issues and tit-for-tat exchanges. This article identifies the circumstances in which the the US, EEC and British delegations employed these traditional diplomatic techniques, and assesses the effectiveness of these techniques in forging agreement in the details stage of the Kennedy Round, Providing a detailed account of these talks, the article demonstrates that the negotiating techniques of the American delegation were far more flexible than those of the European and British delegations and that this flexibility was vital to the successful completion of the talks. The article concludes that differences in negotiating technique are best explained by a combination of two factors - the contrasting decision making structures of each negotiating team and the international political context of the negotiations.