Individuals, Disaggregation of the State, and Negotiation Tactics

Evidence from the European Union

Datos Bibliográficos

ID7822992
AutoresNicola Chelotti (0000-0001-7797-0724, Loughborough University, autor de correspondencia)
Año2024
Volumen68
Número3
Fecha de publicación2024-06-24
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaInternational Studies Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0020-8833 • E-ISSN: 1468-2478
EditorialOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/isq/sqae081
OpenAlexW4400106066
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas60

This article intends to investigate to what extent, how, and when individuals who are below the leader’s level affect the processes and outputs of international politics. It does so by analyzing one group of below-leader actors—diplomatic negotiators in EU foreign policy. It first shows how, despite all the bureaucratic layers they are embedded in, individual negotiators have de facto acquired ultimate policymaking responsibilities, most prominently in the selection of tactics. This empowerment of individual diplomats occurs through a process of double state disaggregation: Policymaking responsibilities have shifted from the political to the bureaucratic level; then, within the latter, from the capital-based administration to the officials involved, often in single capacity, in negotiations. Next, it tests three individual characteristics (experience, style, and identity) against an original dataset of 138 questionnaires completed by EU diplomats and 17 interviews. It shows that negotiators’ personal traits explain the use of some, but not all, tactics. Specifically, they are less likely to matter when negotiators have to commit the state in significant and explicit ways, e.g., when threatening/exercising veto. When this does not happen (e.g., showing flexibility in the delegation’s position or using persuasion), the influence of individual characteristics is instead strong

Bureaucracy · Commit · Delegation · Economics · Empowerment · Flexibility (engineering · Incentive · Management · Microeconomics · Negotiation · Persuasion · Political science · Politics · Position (finance · Public relations · State (computer science · Conflict Management and Negotiation · European Union Policy and Governance · International Relations and Foreign Policy · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology