ABSTRACT
In order to assess how the negotiation process operates the authors develop four alternative interpretations, or negotiation 'models'. Each model is assessed using analysis of the policy process based on information on each agent involved in the negotiation. Negotiations can only be fully understood by those who have been inside the process. Negotiations begin with a policy development process within each agent's organisation to frame its policy position. Each agent for whom an issue in negotiations is important has a preferred outcome. Issues are assumed to be unidimensional, meaning that the possible outcomes can be represented as points on a line, or as values on an underlying continuum. Saliences also reflect the evaluation by the agent of their potential to change the outcome. Every agent is strongly influenced by the external institutional structure surrounding the process of negotiations.
