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(1): Sachklassifikation. = Subject classification. = Classification des matieres.; (2): Regionalklassifikation (Politische-geographisch). = Regional classification (political-geographical). = Classification regionale (politico-geographique)

Recently, multilateralism has become a major buzz word in Asian international relations. Nations in the region are hopeful that multilateral negotiations will serve as a basis for managing the region's problems. The argument here is that hopes that the United States will commit to such arrangements are misplaced. Given both America's history and current U.S. national interests, the United States is likely to make only a partial commitment to multilateralism. (Asian Perspect/GIGA)

The World Trade Organization (WTO) lacks the power to directly enforce agreements. It is therefore important to understand what role the WTO can play to facilitate international cooperation, and whether a multilateral institution can offer distinct advantages over a web of bilateral agreements. This paper examines two potential benefits of a multilateral trade institution: first, verifying violations of the agreements and informing third parties, thus facilitating multilateral reputation mechanisms; second, promoting multilateral trade negotiations rather than a web of bilateral negotiations. The model suggests that a multilateral approach is particularly important when there are strong imbalances in bilateral trading relationships. (JEL F13)

This article examines the duration of international multilateral agreement negotiations. Based on propositions in the literatureconcerning factors which may have an effect on the length of negotiations, I derive testable hypotheses concerning the involvement of intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations in the negotiation process, the number of negotiating parties, and the duration of the agreement. These hypotheses are tested using new data collected from the negotiations of 168 multilateral agreements. I find that whether a nonstate actor makes the first proposal does have an effect on the duration of multilateral agreement negotiations, but this relationship is conditional on issue area. In particular, when an intergovernmental organization makes the first proposal for security-related agreements, negotiations are longer, but the opposite is true for non-security agreement. (International Interactions/ FUB 2011)