Diplomatic Negotiation

304 Diplomatic Negotiation
their own mandates, their parliament, the media, public opinion, and of course by actors
excluded from the negotiation process, such as negotiators for other countries.
This chapter first dealt with the chairperson as an important player in real-life and
simulated inter-state negotiation processes. The chairperson has to balance needs,
observe different phases in the process, understand and influence the people, and use
the procedures in an effective way. If negotiation is about giving something in order to
get something, chairing is to navigate somewhere to get somewhere. To what extent the
chairperson has to be neutral is an open question, which is perhaps also influenced by
cultural perception. In one of the discussions in preparation for the UK rotating Presidency,
the participants declared that in their opinion a chairperson had to be fair – whatever
that implies – while the trainer, being Dutch, thought of effective chairpersons as being
‘neutral’.
Second, this chapter analyzed simulated bilateral negotiation processes that are
relevant for controlling – illegal – nuclear tests. The chapter describes and discusses
so-called table-top exercises (TTE). The objectives of all these TTEs were twofold: one is
training staff through experience in a simulated environment; and the other is study and
development of the methodology of conduct of an inspection. The TTEs were therefore
planned to include situations that may arise during an inspection, to be tackled by the
multinational group of expert participants trying to find how the situation can be solved.
Various negotiation styles and techniques should be presented and exercised during a
TTE. Special cases developed for training can cover specific issues such as connectedness
between factors, human interaction in a multicultural environment, the use of specialized
equipment, and the geographical environment.
Lessons were identified to be learned and implemented in the training programme
for inspectors. This procedure is especially important for the CTBTO, since its verification
regime does not include routine inspections and exercises are the only way to advance
understanding of procedures and the training of inspectors. Although other verification
regimes have routine inspections through which they may accomplish the two objectives
mentioned above, these characteristics of a TTE also make it useful in other international
organizations that can use such exercises for the same objectives. This may be true for the
OPCW, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), or the fight against terrorism, etc.
Trainees may be confronted with specific situations that are important for their training, in
a simulated environment instead of sending them unprepared to inspections. This method
can replace a number of lectures that describe such situations.
This experience illustrated clearly that the simulation’s control team should not always
expect the specific development of a case study. It became obvious that the scenario of
case studies leaves enough space for the inspection team to come up with different ways
for proceeding than the control team has envisaged. It was accepted that it is good to
leave such latitude for the inspection team and not to limit its flexibility. Such a programme
requires the control team to be composed of experts in the different OSI technologies,
who need to be alert and ready to improvise based on the basic scenario as needed. Using
TTEs helps participants to understand the intricacies of negotiations on the ground, while
it opens opportunities for research in understanding which scenarios might develop in
a given situation, thereby supporting the preparation of actual field negotiations. TTEs
deepen the understanding of a negotiation process that has not yet happened in reality,