ABSTRACT
The study of negotiation continues to be a growth industry, as scholars and practitioners of all stripes attempt to make sense-some with more success than others-of its complex and often opaque nature. In attempting a typology of multilateral negotiations, one is immediately confronted with definitional problems. Traditionally, the actors who have participated in multilateral negotiations have been states and their governmental representatives. The United Nations has sponsored negotiations dealing with a vast array of security, economic, environmental, and social issues. Multilateral negotiations have historically dealt with what were considered to be issues of “high politics,” peace, and security. Multilateral negotiations vary not only in the kind and number of parties involved and the issues that are the subject of negotiations but also in the form and process of the actual negotiations themselves. International relations have become very complex, with a plethora of issues and problems that demand multilateral solutions.
