Negotiations in General

Although intergovernmental negotiations are conducted primarily between and among official authorities (e.g. heads of state, ministers, diplomats and scientific and technical specialists), other actors, such as intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), businesses, trade unions and, increasingly, parliaments and local governments, are often involved in processes and contribute to determining outcomes. In fact, in many contemporary intergovernmental negotiations and particularly those taking place in the context of large multilateral conferences on economic, social or environmental issues, representatives from these non-state sectors often easily surpass the total number of state delegates. At the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, for instance, NGO representatives outnumbered state delegates by a margin of more than four to one!