The organization of international negotiations: constructing the climate change regime

The global negotiations over climate change involved over 180 countries and innumerable observers and other participants, addressing enormously complex and economically vital issues with conflicting agendas. For the UN to create an effective and well-supported international regime required enormous and very skilful organization. Using the metaphor of a theatrical production, this book shows how this was accomplished to produce the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol and the subsequent Bonn and Marrakesh Accords. The author draws out the lessons and implications for other intricate and far-reaching negotiations, not all of which have succeeded so far, such as the WTO trade negotiations at Seattle and Cancun. She identifies six key elements that determine organizational effectiveness as a necessary condition for successful outcomes.