Agenda Disputes And Strategic Venue Preferences: The Doha Crisis And Europe?s Flight To Regionalism

Agenda-setting disputes have become increasingly central to the conduct of multilateral trade negotiations. Introducing some simple concepts from Negotiations Theory, the authors focus on the dynamic interplay between the Doha Round's agenda setting and bargaining stages, underlining their implications for the European Union's evolving win-set in the negotiations. They argue that, by successful enshrining a narrow agenda, key developing countries reduced the set of possible final settlements that were both multilaterally viable and attractive from the point of view of key European interests.