Negotiation Preparation

Preparation

Nicole Carle: Hello and welcome to this module on preparation for peace negotiations. This session is intended to overview the key aspects of preparing a delegation for peace negotiations. My name is Nicole Carle and I'm a counsel at the Public International Law and Policy Group, or PILPG. Today, I'm so pleased to welcome Dr. Paul Williams, co-founder and president of PILPG, and Professor Milena Sterio, Managing Director at PILPG. Welcome both. 

Prof. Milena Sterio: Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here. 

Dr. Paul Williams: Thank you, Nicole. Great to be here. 

Nicole Carle: Now, to get us started, Milena, I want to turn to you first. One of the most important aspects of a successful negotiation is, of course, preparation. Can you elaborate now on why proper preparation is so crucial? 

Prof. Milena Sterio: Absolutely. Nicole, an entire negotiation can be won or lost depending on the preparation phase. Inadequate, bad, poor preparation can cause serious and irreparable damage to relationships, and it can negatively impact the possibility of any future successful negotiations with the same parties involved.

Conversely, adequate, good, solid preparation will allow the delegation the opportunity to make sure that everybody understands what the main goals of the negotiation are. We'll make sure that members familiarize themselves with the key issues and with all the parties involved, and it will also allow everybody to identify any weaknesses in their own negotiation strategy before the negotiation takes place.

So, in a nutshell, by properly preparing for the negotiation, the delegation will be one step closer to achieving success. And by not properly preparing for the negotiation, the delegation will most likely impede the ability to have a successful negotiation. 

Nicole Carle: Thank you. Now, we will continue to break down the preparations themselves, but Paul, if you could give some overall thoughts to start us off of how a delegation should begin to approach its preparation for negotiations.

Dr. Paul Williams: Nicole, I think it's important not to underestimate how difficult it is actually to prepare for negotiations. There's some sort of theme or theory out there among parties to negotiations that it's more art than science and people are naturally negotiators because of their professions or because of their cultural experiences, et cetera. But it's a really difficult process to negotiate peace, to negotiate a ceasefire, to negotiate a restructuring of a state, to negotiate an inclusive governance structure, and there are issues that need to be understood. Not just positions, everybody knows their positions, but the depth of the issues, understanding the positions and the interests of the other party, teeing up external support, be it lawyers like we are at PILPG or military advisors or media specialists. 

Parties often need at least four to six weeks of intensive preparation before they go into a negotiation and they shouldn't be doing it two or three days before the negotiation happens.

Now, big picture comment, this is easier said than done. When we were representing the Kosovars at Rambouillet, they basically were pulled from all parts of Kosovo, put on a military plane, brought to France, and then they were in the Rambouillet Chateau together. They had no time, no space to prepare. At the moment, the civilians on the Sudanese peace process, exceedingly difficult to get together to prepare, but it has to be prioritized by those delegations as well as by the mediators.

The mediators need to give time and space, and oftentimes technical and financial assistance, for parties to be able to become well prepared for the peace process.

Designing an Overall Strategy

Nicole Carle: Okay, let's talk about one of the first steps in a delegation's preparation, designing an overall strategy. Milena, can I turn to you for some insight on this?

Prof. Milena Sterio: Of course, Nicole. So, a well designed overall and comprehensive strategy is really at the heart of being well prepared for any negotiation.

Designing a plan will require the delegation to consider what the main issues are, to also consider the various interests and all the parties involved in light of the specific delegation's goals. And also, the delegation has to have the opportunity to develop its own strategy based on achieving those goals.

So in other words, what are your main goals? And then what is the strategy that you will use to achieve those goals? So, when designing a strategy, there are a couple of key points for any delegation to keep in mind. 

So first of all, you have to be able to design a comprehensive strategy that addresses any aspect of the negotiation.

And you have to think about the possibility that something could negatively affect your ability to achieve a specific goal. You have to think of that ahead of time and prepare. 

Second, an integral aspect of designing an effective plan and an effective strategy is to have knowledge and understanding of all the issues of all the parties and interests involved.

And remember that this means that the important issues, parties and interests have to be taken into account from the delegation's perspective, as well as from the perspective of all the other parties. So, it's important to know what your delegation will think, but it's also important to consider how all the other parties will perceive the various issues and what their interests might be.

A delegation's negotiation strategy should include things like a clear understanding of the delegation's goals, and the delegation's strategy to achieve those goals. Ideally, you want to have a clearly written and defined document, which is really a path, your strategy for achieving the desired outcome. And please keep in mind that the written strategy should be kept confidential and should not be inadvertently made available to the other parties or to the media because this is your strategy, this is your guiding document. 

You should also consider the structure of the negotiation, including the setting. Where will this take place? The timing, how long? And also, the sequence, how are you going to structure all the various issues, and in what order will you negotiate over the specific issues?

And then last but not least, you do have to keep in mind that being flexible is also one of the key points in achieving success. So, you have to have built in flexibility in the form of alternate plans in the event that there's a change of goals, a change of interest, a change of parties, and a change of circumstances.

What are you going to do then in order to still be able to conduct a negotiation, in order to still be able to achieve all of your desired goals?

Nicole Carle: Paul, do you have anything to add here? 

Dr. Paul Williams: Yeah, I would just amplify a couple of points that Milena mentioned. And the first is that once you've developed your strategy, don't forget that you have a strategy. When I've worked with parties, they've gone into negotiations, it's intense, it's stressful, it's emotional. The other party will do things to cause you harm. On the ground, they will attack the villages of some of the key negotiators or they'll commit atrocities. If they're losing at the negotiation or they're not getting all of their interests met at the negotiation table, they'll stir up activity on the battlefield in order to unsettle the other party. 

And I've seen so many of our pro bono clients drop their strategy to start engaging in tactical tit for tat in the negotiation room in order to compensate for something that's happening in the field. And it's very difficult once you've drifted from your strategy to get back to that effective approach.

Now, the corollary to that, and as Milena mentioned, is to be flexible. If your strategy is not working, amend it, add on additional tactics, or pull back some of the tactics, or change up the personnel. You definitely need to plan. You definitely need a strategy. But as the negotiations evolve and as the mood and the theme and the rhythm of the negotiations begin to settle, it's important to reevaluate your strategy and update it as necessary. 

Understanding the Other Parties and Their Interests. 

Nicole Carle: Now, you've both mentioned that a key part of preparations will be understanding the other parties and their interests. How does a delegation begin to prepare for this? 

Dr. Paul Williams: Nicole, I think the very first thing that a delegation has to do when understanding the opposing side's interest is a little bit what they have to do with their own, it is not just to embrace the first or second level of those positions. So many times we've talked with our pro bono clients who said, we know what the other side wants. They want this and they want this. They do want this and they want that, but you want to know what other things they want. What are their other interests literally beneath the tip of the iceberg that you don't see, because that's where you're going to find the compromise. 

You want A and they want Z, you can't compromise there. But if it's things in the middle of the alphabet that you have interest in, you can find a way of compromising.

Red Teaming

One of the best ways of doing this is a red teaming exercise. And we can talk about a little bit more later if you'd like as well, but to put yourself in the shoes of the opposing party and actually role play through a negotiation simulation with you acting as the opposing party.

I was with one client in West Africa and we went to a secure location to do a simulation away from the public eye and the media, and I had assigned the chief of the government delegation to be the chief rebel leader. And he came up to me and he said, Professor Paul, I'm the head negotiator of the government. Why do you have me playing the head rebel? One of my deputies should play the head rebel. I said no, you have to play the head rebel because otherwise everybody will just agree with you because you're the head of the delegation. 

And at the coffee break, he came up and he said, this was the best exercise I've ever done, because I'm sitting there pretending to be the head rebel leader, and I'm listening to my deputy pretending to be me and reading talking points to me that I have read before to the chief negotiator from rebel delegation, and I was so mad, I was so offended, I wanted to climb across the table and smack myself. And he said, I never thought about how condescending pedantic my talking points were until I sat on the other side. 

Now, the talking points were, we have your best interests at heart, and join with us, and throw down your weapons, and life will be a better and a happy place. And he said yeah, I was really offended just pretending to be the other side. So it really got his mind into the perspective of the opposing party. And they subsequently successfully negotiated a peace agreement. 

Nicole Carle: That's a great story. Milena, any other key points to add?

Prof. Milena Sterio: Sure, Nicole. So, one of the points that Paul just made to follow up on that, the coffee break could be very important.

It could be part of your negotiating strategy to actually use the coffee break and maybe engage with the other side, learn a little bit more about the other side. But on a more serious note, here are some additional key points. So, first of all, the delegation should really learn and inform itself as much as possible about the other parties before the negotiation commences.

So, knowing who the other parties are, and that really includes researching those individuals, researching those organizations, researching those other countries. You want to know more about the other parties. Who they are, what their history is, what their behaviors have been at other negotiations, what their interests are, how they might want to approach this particular negotiation.

And I would add that in this day and age of online presence, this task has become a little bit more easy. It's relatively easy to search online and try to find out as much as you can about the other parties, the other organizations, as well as the other countries that might be having representatives at a given negotiation.

You also want to make sure that you identify the objectives, interests, goals, priorities of all the other parties. And this does mean putting yourself in their shoes, as Paul just explained, and trying to truly understand what it is that they might be trying to get out of this particular negotiation. So you want to think about their financial interests, their political interests, their reputational interests, etc.

And then last but certainly not least, I think it's important to avoid assumptions. It's important to approach a negotiation without assuming things about the other side's objectives, interests, and positions. You want to come to a negotiation and you want to truly be able to listen to the other side, to hear what the other side has to say about their particular objectives, interests, positions, priorities, goals.

And remember that there is a huge difference between interests and positions. All skilled negotiators and mediators talk about how important it is to focus on interest and not positions. Remember that generally, an interest is what somebody actually wants to achieve out of a negotiation. Whereas a position is something that someone will say they want out of a negotiation.

If you focus on interest and not on positions, you're much more likely to actually arrive at a negotiated outcome that everybody is pleased with.

Back-channel Negotiations

Nicole Carle: Paul, can you go into a little bit about back channel negotiations and then how that can help.

Dr. Paul Williams: So, picking up on what Milena had just indicated, one of the ways of keeping that flow of information about the opposing parties positions and interest current and up to date is to ensure that two or three members of your delegation have sanctioned back channel communications with some select members of the opposing delegation.

And this is important in a number of ways. You can float proposals, you can float ideas, but you can also simply reality check how the negotiations are going, how your perspective, your presentations are being received, share concerns or other issues relating to the mediation.

And, this sounds a little academic when a couple of professors are on the zoom and they say yeah, create some back channel negotiations with the opposing party. ‘Didn't you just tell us ten minutes ago, they're attacking your village on the ground?’ That is true. However, negotiations occur among political elites, for better or worse, even the non-state armed actors are oftentimes former political elite. I've been gobsmacked at how many times members of the delegation that I'm working with went to university with members of the delegation on the other side of the table, and you'll be talking about such and such, and oh, yeah, when we were in the student union together or when we were in X, Y, or Z together at university, then they'll tell stories about each other, and then you'll see them actually going for walks in the park, famous walks in the park where different delegations and different parties share information.

You want to encourage that, and you want to do it openly because there's always a lot of suspicion. Is there somebody on your delegation who's passing information to the other side? And the answer is yes, there is. And we've asked her or him to do that as a way of keeping that channel of communication and perspectives.

Because ultimately, you're going to want to get to yes. You're going to want to go from a point of conflict to a point of collaboration, to a point of cohesion and having these back channel negotiations that can keep you informed about how the other side is perceiving the evolution of the negotiations is really important.

Venue

Nicole Carle: Absolutely. And now, also during this preparatory phase, the delegation will be thinking about the venue or the location of the negotiations, which can make an enormous difference to any negotiation situation. What are some important considerations for a delegation to bear in mind? Milena, I want to go to you first and then Paul for any follow up.

Prof. Milena Sterio: Of course, using the physical location and logistics strategically and understanding how the setting of a negotiation can affect the parties involved is really a key part of successful preparation. Any delegation should be able to choose a physical setting strategically that will help the delegation to meet its goals.

So here are a couple of key points for any negotiating delegation to consider. So first, you should consider what setting would help achieve your given interest. Determine which aspects of the setting you're willing to compromise on and which aspects of the setting you're not. Second, how would the aspect of a particular physical setting help you to achieve success?

So for example, geography. What are the particular benefits of geography? Negotiating at home, negotiating in a neutral venue, or negotiating at the other party's location? And does a particular physical geographic location allow for safety, security, and confidentiality of all of the parties involved?

Think also about accessibility. Is a remote or is an easily accessible location preferable considering the likes of access to resources, access to external assistance, the presence of distractions, media access, or the ability to confer privately. And just to give a quick example here, back in the mid 90s, during the Dayton peace negotiations, which resolved the Balkans conflict, the physical setting of the negotiation was purposefully chosen as Dayton, Ohio, which is a relatively remote physical location.

And that was done deliberately to basically make sure that there weren't too many distractions, that the parties were truly focused on negotiating and didn't have anywhere else to go. Accessibility, as I mentioned, is also important. So, for parties to a given conflict, it might be important to be in a physical setting that's not too far away. So for example, in the past, some of the Sudan negotiations have taken place in South Sudan, which is a location that's relatively easily accessible from Sudan.

Nicole Carle: Paul, anything to add here? 

Dr. Paul Williams: Yeah, Nicole, I would just emphasize a little bit that, as you said in your question, venue is really important. And unfortunately, I think there is a lot of superficial thinking about the venue and a lot of what we would call, you know, urban myths about the venue. Oh, we have to do it in Geneva because Geneva is the city of peace, which is why there are all kinds of peace talks in Geneva or, we have to isolate them because we have to get them focused. We have to get them away from their phones. If you're a civil society delegate and you're representing millions of people in theory, you don't want to be cut off from communication. You want to be able to communicate with other members of civil society in order to represent them. So you have to be careful about a mediator being superficial, and really be thoughtful about the positive consequences as well as the negative consequences. 

So when we were working with the Armenians they did the negotiations, Secretary Colin Powell and his chief mediator, Carey Cavanaugh, decided to have them at the Truman White House in Key West, Florida. Who thinks of Key West, Florida as a place for negotiations over the future status of Nagorno Karabakh, a self determination issue? But the idea was to make it relaxed. There were two countries, they had parity, they had embassies in Washington. They could get quick access to Key West, and there was a sense of okay, let's have this be a relaxed environment. Let's tone down the stress. That was very positive. Now on the flip side, the Rambouillet negotiations were held at an amazing Chateau outside of Versailles at Rambouillet. But what the French either apparently didn't realize or didn't care about is the cast of our Albanians who've been flown on a military flight directly from Kosovo to an airbase nearby, then brought in the Chateau, did not have visas.

They couldn't leave the Chateau. So every day, the Serbian delegation and the mediators would walk out front from the Chateau and they'd have a press conference and then they'd go to their embassy up in Paris, and they would do various things, and the Kosovars were actually physically prohibited by the Gendarmerie guarding the Chateau from leaving the Chateau.

They were literally under Chateau arrest, and it was very frustrating, and created quite a bit of anxiety, and we always called them the Rambouillet negotiations, but phase two of the Rambouillet negotiations were actually held in Paris and all members of the delegation had visas so that they could come and go in parity with the Serbian delegation and with the mediators.

And so, be thoughtful when advising the mediation team or your parties on the venue, it is important.

Defining the roles and responsibilities of the delegation

Nicole Carle: Now, another key preparatory step will be defining the role and responsibilities of the members of the delegation. How might a delegation be structured and what roles need to be filled? Paul, I'll go to you.

Dr. Paul Williams: Oh, Nicole, there are a number of roles that need to be filled during a delegation and I'll just note a number of the important ones and think of it as a sports team. So you need a coach, you need someone who is the head of the delegation, but the head of the delegation, just like a coach should not take the field, should not be in the room negotiating.

There's all kinds of advantages to having someone who's physically present at the negotiations. But isn't actually negotiating with the other party. They can keep their eye on the strategy. They can do back channels with the mediator. They can't commit in the room, we have to go check with the coach, with the head of the delegation.

Obviously, you need a chief negotiator or someone to be in the room doing the negotiations. You need one spokesperson. You need to speak with a single voice. And the spokesperson should be in the negotiations on and off so that they actually have a ground truth of what's happening in the negotiations, and they should be the one who's in front of the camera. 

You will always have members of the delegation at press time because the press needs to fill pages. They need to fill airtime and anybody with a delegation badge from the government or whomever, they'll put a microphone. You get a microphone in front of you, you start speaking. You need to have real discipline among your delegation. You'll also want to have a person of influence, someone who has gravitas with the global community, the mediators, and even the other side. Just about every negotiation that Milena and I have been involved in, there's been a person of stature, a person of influence who can calm the setting and calm the situation and calm their own party, their own delegation. 

Now, on the flip side, you need an antagonist. And the antagonist should be the least emotional person, the most rational person, but with a signal from the head of the mediation team can lose it in the delegation. And there's all kinds of strategic reasons why you would want to disrupt the flow of the negotiation by signaling the antagonist to stand up and say, this is outrageous and how can we be doing this and etc. 

And then you can kick them out of the room. But then still say, okay, we need to pause for coffee or for reassessment. And then two last, and then I'll turn it to Milena for any of her thoughts, is, you need your own interpreters. Do not rely on the mediation for interpretation.

Sometimes it's in the same language, but oftentimes you may speak the same language as the other party, but the UN may not speak, or the mediator may not speak that language, or some members of the mediation team. You always want your own interpreter. Words matter. You also want your own scribe. You want someone on your team writing down what you're saying. 

We were in a negotiation more than once where agreement was reached on points one, two and three and concessions were made to get agreement on all three of those points. And then the U. N. showed up the next day and said, well, great, let's pick up where we left off yesterday. We reached agreement on point one and two and now let's discuss three. And our delegation had made concessions on one and two to get what they wanted on three. The other team, the other delegation smiled ear to ear and said, yes, let's start discussing number three.

And this is what we want, not recognizing the concessions that our delegation had made on one and two, and it delayed the negotiations for a whole day while they argued about what they had actually agreed upon the day before. Fortunately, our delegation had written down on paper what was agreed and said, look, at this time of the day, this is what was agreed.

Don't rely on anybody else to ensure the integrity of the negotiations. You need your delegation fully staffed and roles assigned so that you've got everything necessary to ensure the integrity of the negotiation process.

Nicole Carle: Now Milena, Paul alluded to this a little bit in his last answer, but determining who the delegation puts in the room and at what stage during the negotiations is also an incredibly important part of preparations. How does the delegation best prepare for this decision? 

Prof. Milena Sterio: That's right, Nicole. This is a really important step that comes within the delegation's preparations.

So, as part of preparing for negotiation, the delegation will want to very seriously consider not only who will be present in the room during the actual negotiation, but also who should participate on all the other aspects of the negotiation, including preparation, communications, back channel communications, advising the team, and all the other various aspects of any negotiation.

So here are some key considerations for the delegation at this stage of preparation. So first, you want to know what individuals will help the delegation to attain its goals and ultimately achieve success at every phase of the negotiation. You want to identify the best individual or the best set of individuals in order to attain all the different goals that you might have, and to basically be able to participate the most successfully at every different phase of the negotiation. 

Second, you want to consider the status of those who are in the room. The people in the room from both parties or from multiple parties, if we're talking about a multi party negotiation, should be of equal status. The delegation would not put its own decision maker in the room if the other party's decision maker is not going to be present. Third, you want to consider the different stages of the negotiation, and you want to ask yourself, what stage of the negotiation are we in? For example, are we talking about the preliminary stages of the negotiation, or are we truly talking about the deal making stages of a negotiation?

This will also help you determine who should be in the room, presumably your decision makers should be in the room for the deal making stages. They don't necessarily have to be in the room if you're talking about preliminary stages of a negotiation. 

Next, when selecting particular individuals for the negotiation team, you should consider choosing people who are experienced in negotiations. You don't necessarily want to put a newbie as a lead to your delegation. You want to put people in the room who are knowledgeable about the issues, the parties, the interests, or the countries involved. So you want someone who already has in-depth knowledge about all the various issues that are going to be at stake.

And then, you want to also put individuals in the room who have the desire and the means to be involved. You don't want to put someone who is genuinely uninterested in the issues that are being negotiated. You want to think about who are the individuals who have the best way of being involved who truly have a desire to be involved.

Next, the delegation should think about whether there are other individuals that the delegation should have on the team based on other considerations. So for example, based on your internal politics, based on the desire to represent particular factions of your constituency. So for example, in a multi-ethnic country involved in a peace negotiation, you might want to have representatives of all the different ethnic groups present in a negotiation, especially if their own interests are being negotiated.

And then finally, you want to consider who the other parties might bring into the room. What are the potential personality conflicts? Cultural considerations, are there any trust issues among the parties? And that goes into your homework. We already talked earlier about preparing for the negotiation, and part of that preparation is knowing who the other parties are going to be.

So, considering who the other parties are going to be, you might want to reassess who your various representatives will be. All these considerations should inform who the delegation chooses to be in the room at any given time. But remember that flexibility here is key, and you should never be afraid to re-evaluate who should be in the room for you if you find out new information coming from the other side.

Nicole Carle: A lot to keep in mind there, Milena, but I appreciate you walking through all of that. 

Style of Negotiations

Nicole Carle: I want to stay with you for this next one as well about preparing for negotiations and when the delegation will want to determine the style that they take. What are the key things to bear in mind here? 

Prof. Milena Sterio: Nicole, remember that different styles of negotiation may call for different talents, different experience, different expertise, and choosing a negotiation style will help set the tone, as well as this might influence the ultimate outcome of the delegation's negotiation.

So as a delegation, you will want to choose a style that you believe will be the most effective means to achieving your goals. But at the same time, obviously, the style that you choose has to be both natural and it has to be credible because if you choose a style that is inappropriate, this might undermine the entire legitimacy of the negotiation process.

Your delegation should think about whether the chosen style needs to be adapted to account for differences of gender, personality, culture, or any other aspects. And it's particularly important here to consider culture, including any rituals, styles, customs, and to choose a style that can maximize the utility of such customs. 

So, for example, I participated in a workshop and negotiation in a particular country where one of the customs was to have several breaks during the day that involved physical rituals such as stretching or a dance. Something like that might not be appropriate in, for example, the Anglo Saxon context, but in this particular context, it was really important to incorporate all of that into the day and into the negotiation. And then finally, it's also important that the delegation needs to balance being flexible with the importance of keeping a consistent style. So flexibility should not undermine consistency. It's important to have a consistent style, but then to also be flexible from time to time and be able to tweak things from time to time Without undermining consistency. 

Nicole Carle: Thanks, Milena. I think I need to check out where they have dance breaks and move myself there. I do have one final question and I want to turn to both of you.

Key Advice for Expert Preparation

Nicole Carle: While the preparatory steps we have outlined here are all important, if the delegation has not properly researched and familiarized themselves with all of the key facts and issues, they will be poorly prepared. Do you have any further advice or last words for delegations to become both factual and issue based experts?

Paul, I'll start with you and then Milena for the last word. 

Dr. Paul Williams: No, thanks, Nicole. I would only mention a couple of things. One is that parties should never, in their preparation, parties should never underestimate how complex these issues are. If you're talking state structure, devolution of political authority, self determination, security sector reform, natural resources issues, ownership and management, these are highly complex issues.

Dr. Paul Williams: It's not something you can learn while you're negotiating. You really do have to develop an expertise or bring on experts either from your country or international experts who know these issues well, making sure that they are on your team and not just objective unbiased people who are giving generic advice, but are actually giving us through the lens of your party's perspective. During the negotiations, there's always an effort to create subcommittees to stovepipe the issues. That's fine, but you need to be prepared to have a number of members of your own delegation float through all of the different subcommittees so that you can make sure you're not agreeing to inconsistent or incompatible, or even presenting inconsistent or incompatible positions in the different subcommittees because that'll be used against you in the in the plenary meeting.

And then the last point is to embrace the notion that words matter. And so, be prepared to put your draft on top first. Every party that we've worked with, we always advise, no matter who you are, the mediation, the government, the opposition groups, the civil society, on that very first day, you put your draft on top first.

It's important because the process of creating a draft really gets you to know the details. And we've had parties that say, oh no, isn't that the role of the mediator? It's yeah, it may be the role of the mediator, but it's also your role. It's your country. It's your conflict. And going through to craft an agreement really requires people to think through the fifth and the sixth level of those issues.

There's also a peace negotiation myth about once the parties agree, you can just write it down. No, it's actually really difficult to write it down. And writing is a second negotiation. I've seen so many times where the principles, so to speak, of the delegations will agree to something, and then they say, okay, we'll have the lawyers the technical experts go ahead and draft it up, and you walk into that room, and the other party is renegotiating all of the issues, but using the technical, that wouldn't work technically. 

Or if we write it this way, and they're clearly writing it in a way that suits the interests that they were presenting that were then compromised on, they're not presenting the compromised language. So the writing of the agreement, the technical details, is just as important as the front row of the high level negotiation.

Nicole Carle: Milena

Prof. Milena Sterio: Nicole, I would just add a couple of things that have to do again with preparing substantively and comprehensively for the negotiation. So, you should always keep in mind internal factors, such as the relationship of the parties, the various organizational and social structures within the parties, all the different factors that are truly internal to the negotiating process.

But at the same time, you also have to keep in mind external factors, things like, for example, relevant political and economic policies, the international marketplace, other geopolitical considerations, geographic locations. Third, you should also keep in mind other relevant considerations, including various legal factors, various moral or ethical concerns.

These can sometimes seriously impact any given negotiation. And then finally, you should keep in mind that third party experts and mediators have their own 

views, have their own interests and biases, and you should not disregard those. For example, Paul's example of the mediator putting the draft in a particular order. You have to be careful about that, and you have to make sure ideally that your draft is on top. You do not leave it to the mediator because keep in mind, the mediator might also have their own interests, their own goals, their own biases. And so, I think that with all of that in mind, it's important to emphasize the importance of being thoroughly, comprehensively prepared for the negotiation, which might take weeks, months. You can't just show up and do things on the fly. You really have to consider all of these issues very seriously before you start.

Nicole Carle: Well, thank you both. And that brings us to the end of today's discussion on preparation. Thank you both for joining. And in other videos, we will discuss additional aspects of the negotiation process, including techniques for when you are in the room. So thank you, and please join us in other videos.