Political Science

As  the  title  suggests,  the  article  is  concerned  with  negotiations  between  international  bodies  that  seek  to  enter  into  an  international  alliance  to  serve  their  purposes.  The  article  begins  with  a  brief  introduction  of  why  and  how  international  alliance  negotiations  take  place  and  also  points  to  a  couple  of  the  many  legal  questions  that  are  involved  in  such  negotiations.  The  primary  objective  of  the  article  is  to  provide  a  basic  idea  about  the  procedural  matters  that  are  associated  with  international  alliance  negotiations  and  in  doing  so  the  article  highlights  the  key  aspects  and  characteristics  of  such  alliances.  At  the  outset,  the  article  presents  the  starting  point  of  all  international  alliance  negotiations  which  is  the  establishment  of  issues  around  which  the  partnership  will  be  formed,  or  in  other  words,  the  issues  based  on  which  the  parties  to  the  alliance  shall begin  and  conduct  their  negotiations  in  order  to  give  shape  to  the  alliance.  The  second  part of  the  article  relates  to  the  various  aspects  which  comprise  the  establishment  of  issues.  These  include,  firstly,  the  setting  up  of  joint  ventures,  the  proposed  outline  of  the  contract,  performance  clauses,  restrictions  on  the  partners  and  liability  issues.  Secondly  comes  the  post-establishment  issues  which  may  include  any  changes  that  may  take  place  to  the  contract,  the  dispute  resolution,  disposal  and  transfer  of  shares,  termination  of  the  contract.  Lastly  follows  the  actual  negotiation  process.  Thus  the  three  important  facts  that  the  authors  use  to  support  the  principle  idea  are  -  Establishment  Issues,  Post-Establishment Issues  and  the  Negotiation Process.
       
The  information  and  ideas  discussed  in  this  article  which  have also  been  discussed  in  our  textbook  are  firstly,  the  issue  of  joint  ventures  which  is  found  in  Chapter  20,  page  616  of  the  textbook.  Secondly,  the  issue  of  Strategic  Alliances  is  also  found  in  both  and  in  the  textbook  inn Chapter  15  on  page  454.  thirdly,  another  aspect  that  finds  place  in  both  the  article  and  the  book  is  that  of  Dispute  Resolution  which  can  be  found  in  Chapter  9,  page  281  of  the  textbook.
       
The  article  also  takes  up  and  discusses  some  new  concepts  relating  to  these  negotiations.  The  article  talks  about  performance  clauses.  Performance  clauses  comprise  the  body  of  the  agreement  and  deals  with  the  goods  and  services  in  the  negotiation.  The  second  new  concept  discussed  is  liability  and  force  majeure, a  part  related  to  liability.  Share  disposal  is  another  new  term  which  relates  to  the  distribution  and  possession  of  shares  of  the  partners  that  have  entered  into  the  alliance.  The  fourth  new  concept  is  that  of  termination  which  includes  rules  with  regard  to  the  termination  of  the  alliance.  Termination  can  take  place  both  according  to  the  agreement  as  well  as  a  breach  of  the  contract  by  a  party  to  the  alliance.  Finally,  the  negotiation  process  is  another  new  aspect  discussed  in  the  article.  The  negotiation  process  is  concerned  with  the  issues  that  are  to  be  dealt  with,  the  parties  to  the  negotiation,  the  legal  procedure  involved,  the  choice  of  lawyers  and  the  roles  of  the  negotiating  parties.