The Best of the Bureau/The_Best_of_the_Bureau_Bureau_Development_Inc._1992.iso/dp/0035/00357.txt

Text File | 1992-08-07 | 14KB | 270 lines

$Unique_ID{bob00357}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Japan
Introduction}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Hans Binnendijk}
$Affiliation{Center for the Study of Foreign Affairs}
$Subject{foreign
negotiating
style
center
japanese
chinese
affairs
negotiators
national
negotiations}
$Date{1987}
$Log{}
Title:       Japan
Book:        National Negotiating Styles
Author:      Hans Binnendijk
Affiliation: Center for the Study of Foreign Affairs
Date:        1987

Introduction

Center for the Study of Foreign Affairs

     The Center for the Study of Foreign Affairs, established in late 1982 as
part of the Foreign Service Institute, aims to enrich traditional Foreign
Service training by keeping government officials in many agencies abreast of
emerging foreign policy concepts. Its program of conferences, research,
diplomatic exercises and simulation, and publication combines new perspectives
developed in the private sector with practical experience gained by foreign
affairs personnel.

Conferences

     In the last three years, the Center has organized more than 75
conferences and workshops involving approximately 5,000 participants. These
bring together academicians, businessmen, senior government officials,
distinguished private citizens, and Center researchers for in-depth
discussions of foreign policy issues organized around a number of topics:
international negotiation and conflict resolution; Soviet studies; bilateral
and regional issues; science, technology and foreign affairs; economics;
building democratic institutions; and development of the Foreign Service.

     The results of conferences are summarized in three-page leaflets in the
"Fresh Look" series. These are available upon request.

Research

     The Center facilitates research by foreign affairs personnel and provides
a Washington base and an opportunity for participation in State Department
activities for selected professors on sabbatical leave. The research
undertaken by these individuals is coordinated by the Center and brought to
the attention of government decision-makers.

Exercises and Simulations

     A new Center activity is to develop an exercise and simulation program
for the Department of State. Each year several exercises and simulations will
be developed, using the reservoir of expertise within the Department of State
and related agencies. These teaching instruments will provide a dynamic
dimension to the training of Foreign Service officers and, as analytic tools,
will be able to help policymakers avoid diplomatic mistakes.

Publications

     The Center publishes full-length studies of various foreign policy issues
in its Study of Foreign Affairs series-many of these are based on conferences
and workshops held at the Center. These are available for purchase through
the Government Printing Office. (A list of current titles may be found on the
back cover of this book.) In addition, several shorter studies are available
in the Occasional Paper series. (Occasional papers published so far deal with
the Iran-Iraq war, the history of the Foreign Service from 1776 to the Civil
War, and "Crisis in Al Jazira," a foreign policy simulation.)

Foreword

     Different nations negotiate with different styles. Those styles are
shaped by the nation's culture, history, political system, and place in the
world. Of course, each international negotiation has its own set of
substantive issues and each individual negotiator is distinctive. But a better
understanding of each nation's particular style can strengthen the ability of
the United States to negotiate a better deal. With this in mind, the Foreign
Service Institute is pleased to publish this volume containing assessments of
six national negotiating styles.

     This project developed from conversations in 1985 with Richard H.
Solomon, then head of the Political Science Department of the Rand
Corporation. At Rand, Solomon had completed an extensive study of the Chinese
negotiating style. (His chapter in this volume is based on that study.) The
Center for the Study of Foreign Affairs sought to expand his effort to other
countries. Five additional countries were chosen based on their importance to
the United States, their geographic distribution, and the distinctiveness of
their style. Nationally recognized experts in the affairs of each nation were
then asked to prepare a preliminary assessment. In October 1985, the Foreign
Service Institute hosted a day-long workshop in which each expert presented
preliminary conclusions. The workshop results generated a common approach
to each chapter, and final papers were commissioned. Ambassador John W.
McDonald provided wise counsel throughout the process. Diane B. Bendahmane,
a consultant to the Center, provided valued help by editing the final draft
chapters.

     This volume provides a profile of each national negotiating style. It
reviews each nation's historical and institutional setting, the
characteristics of its political culture, the style of the negotiators
themselves, and national strategies and tactics. Finally, each author suggests
bargaining guidelines for U.S. negotiators.

     Solomon finds that the Chinese conduct negotiations in a "linear" manner
of discrete stages and in a distinctive (but not unique) style. The most
fundamental characteristic of Chinese negotiators, he concludes, is their
attempt "to identify foreign officials who are sympathetic to their cause,
to cultivate a sense of friendship and obligation in their official
counterparts, and then to pursue their objectives through a variety of
stratagems designed to manipulate feelings of friendship, obligation, and
guilt" or what Solomon calls, in Chinese terminology, "the games of guanxi."
The process moves through several stages including opening moves, a period
of assessment involving facilitating maneuvers and pressure tactics, and the
end game. The Chinese tend to stress at the outset their commitment to
abstract principles and will make concessions only at the eleventh hour
after they have fully assessed the limits of their interlocutor's
flexibility. After protracted exchanges, when a deadlock seems to have been
reached, concessions may be made to consummate an agreement. And while the
end-game phase may produce a signed agreement, the Chinese negotiator will
continue to press for his objective in a post-agreement phase termed the
implementation stage, giving negotiations with the Chinese the quality of
continuous bargaining in which closure is never fully reached.

     Leon Sloss and M. Scott Davis describe a traditional Soviet negotiating
style that is less subtle and more aggressive than that of the Chinese.
The Soviets see negotiations as part of a larger struggle for increased
power and influence which can be won if the negotiators are tough enough.
Rather than cultivate friends for future manipulation, the Soviets tend to
put their counterparts on the defensive right away with confrontational,
blunt, or combative tactics. While Chinese hosts structure the negotiating
environment to enhance a sense of obligation on the part of their guests, the
Soviets often try to wear down their counterparts with tactics such as
all-night negotiating sessions. The Soviet negotiator traditionally takes
rigid and extreme positions at the outset; and unlike the Chinese, he makes
concessions "slice by slice" in Salami-slicing tactics. A quid pro quo
is expected for each concession. He seeks generally-worded agreements that
give the Kremlin maximum flexibility in implementation.

     Nathaniel B. Thayer and Stephen E. Weiss present a Japanese negotiating
style that is fundamentally different from both the Chinese and the Soviet
model. The Japanese prefer to avoid formal negotiations because negotiations
are a form of social conflict, and "every Japanese has been taught at his
mother's knee to avoid social conflict." For the Japanese negotiator the
development of personal relations with his counterpart is critical, but the
relationship is not established primarily for the purpose of manipulati