Pre-Negotiation/Negotiation of Process Issues

Prenegotiation refers to the discussions that proceed formal negotiations. The topics usually include procedural questions: who will be involved, where and when the negotiations will take place, how they will be structured, what the agenda will be, and so on. Often these decisions are made before the parties actually sit down together at the table. The mediator will discuss the questions with each side individually, will make a proposal, and then will use shuttle diplomacy to reach agreements on process and structure before the parties sit down together.

At other times, especially in simpler situations involving individual disputants, or even in large scale consensus-building processes on public policy issues, the mediator or facilitator will help the parties negotiate the procedural and structural questions at the very beginning of the formal negotiation process. This has the advantage of giving the disputants a sense of success early on. When some of the parties are reluctant to participate in the process however, the procedural and structural questions usually need to be worked out ahead of time, in order to convince the reluctant party that participation is worth their time.

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