ABSTRACT

In international relations, the dominant conceptualization of global treaty making is based on rational choice models of international cooperation derived from game theory. They analyze the distribution of gains and costs among participating countries, and conditions for attaining an optimal negotiation equilibrium maximizing benefits and minimizing costs of participation. In environmental treaty making epistemic communities play a crucial role in framing problems and solutions. The leadership of skillful individuals such as the United Nations Environment Programme executive directors, conference chairs, or even executive secretaries has often salvaged negotiations from doom. This “network diplomacy” is common in the environmental field but also in trade issues and other areas of “low politics.” It differs notably from the traditional “club diplomacy” where a handful of professional diplomats typically decide everything. Access to negotiations and effective engagement remain difficult for the least developed countries that can hardly cope with so many meetings and complex agendas, and which often lack the relevant expertise and resources.