Consensual knowledge and international collaboration: some lessons from the commodity negotiations

Consensual knowledge can produce widely varying levels of impact on different international negotiations. In the case of negotiations over UNCTAD's Integrated Program for Commodities, consensual knowledge developed among the experts involved. This consensus tended to support the position taken...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International organization 1984-01, Vol.38 (4), p.733-762
Main Author: Rothstein, Robert L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Commodities
Developed countries
Developing countries
Economic development
Economic policy
Economics
International agreements
International economics
Learning
Political debate
UNCTAD
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Summary:Consensual knowledge can produce widely varying levels of impact on different international negotiations. In the case of negotiations over UNCTAD's Integrated Program for Commodities, consensual knowledge developed among the experts involved. This consensus tended to support the position taken by the developed countries, thus pointing in a direction already taken for other reasons. Consensus in this case facilitated an agreement, but empirical and theoretical analysis both suggest it may prove to be an incorrect or unstable agreement. The outcome of the commodity negotiations implies that the interaction of key variables, such as uncertainty and the degree of acceptance of the knowledge, might yield different results in other cases. Various specific means might be used more effectively to diffuse expert knowledge among policy makers.
ISSN:0020-8183
1531-5088
DOI:10.1017/S002081830002693X