Exercising Leadership

Focuses on the leadership of key negotiators on both sides of the maritime border who thought outside of the box to enable a successful international agreement. Building in Incentives Rather than Requirements describes the crucial involvement of the private U.S. oil industry in the binational negotiations. With private-sector input, the parties were able to devise an incentive mechanism, unlike any other in the world, to manage potential conflicts between state-owned and private companies, and encourage the infrastructure development and joint management of the hydrocarbons reservoirs. Creating Better Outcomes through Relationships of Trust concludes the case by illustrating the ways in which the working group meetings and continued formal and informal interactions between the stakeholders led to the ultimate success of the Gulf of Mexico negotiations.

Changing the Mindset

Explains how the United States and Mexico negotiators were able to shift their approaches, taking a series of steps outside the typical inter-agency and diplomatic protocols. Building Trust by Sharing Information demonstrates the innovative data sharing ways the two sides relied on to exchange sensitive information, without giving up confidential components, which in turn empowered the two countries to get their energy, technical and political experts on the same page. Analyzing Precedents to Define a Roadmap illustrates how Mexico prepared for the negotiation process by evaluating international examples of transboundary hydrocarbon reservoir agreements, which allowed them to devise a set of alternatives for consideration. Switching From an Adversarial to a Mutual Gains Approach presents the genesis of the innovative suggestion by the lead U.S. negotiator to set up binational working group sessions, discarding the typical draft-counter-draft strategy that pervades and drags down so many diplomatic negotiations.

Back to the Drawing Board

Explores how, in the context of drought, the parties were able to move From Litigation to Cooperation. After a serious diplomatic confrontation and ensuing lawsuit in which both countries ended up worse off than before, leaders on both sides of the border set out to frame a new mandate. With this new approach, the two sides sought to redefine their relations on the Colorado River and begin negotiations from a constructive, mutual gains mindset. Turning Crisis into Opportunity examines the ways in which the two sides seized a critical window of opportunity to move the negotiations forward following the devastating 2010 earthquake in Mexico’s Mexicali Valley, which weakened the alternatives of several domestic constituencies in Mexico who were opposed to a cooperative process with the U.S. No Negotiation without Representation explains how the U.S. was able to break the traditional diplomatic protocol to allow the seven U.S. states that own the rights to the Colorado River water to be appropriately represented and have a seat at the negotiating table. Involved for the first time as co-sovereigns with the U.S. and Mexican federal authorities, the contributions of the Upper Basin and Lower Basin states were critical to shaping an implementable agreement.

Introduction to the Colorado River Negotiations

Introduces the Colorado River case, presenting an overview of the chapters to follow, as well as providing context for analysis of the binational negotiations with a summary of the 2012 landmark Minute 319 agreement between the United States and Mexico. Outlines the key players, the decades-long history of protracted disputes over the waters of the river basin and the environmental resources of the Colorado River Delta, the increasing challenges in the face of extraordinary drought and climate change, and the mutual gains approach that underpinned the negotiations.

Setting the Stage

Explores how the Mexican and U.S. negotiators, after decades of mistrust and confrontation, jump-started the binational negotiations over the Gulf of Mexico hydrocarbons reservoirs. Getting the Other Side to the Table explores how Mexico was able to convince the U.S. to start negotiations. Due to changing political and resource-availability contexts on both sides of the border, along with the strategic engagement of industry stakeholders, after years of deadlock, Mexico was finally able to persuade the U.S. of the need to create a framework through which to co-manage transboundary hydrocarbon reservoirs. Getting Your Own Side to the Table, examines how the U.S. federal stakeholders (including the Department of Interior, Department of State, and the White House), through the thoughtful leadership of key individuals, were able to address the politics and logistical hurdles in order to bring the necessary people to the their own side of the table. This crucial step of gathering key U.S. negotiators involved creative adaptations of both formal and informal processes.

Afterword: Building Negotiation Skills

After laying out steps to assist and enhance transboundary natural resource management negotiations, the focus here will be to envision, in broad terms, how these steps might be effectively explored, refined, practiced, and disseminated collaboratively between interdependent developed and developing countries. The aim is to give an example of how to bring together various disciplines in order to build capacity at the intersection of public dispute resolution, adaptive leadership, collaborative decision-making, and political communication....

Protecting and Perfecting

Highlights how the negotiators were able to work collaboratively to successfully reach agreement, while blocking the efforts of various spoilers who wished to derail the water negotiations. Dealing with Spoilers tells the story of how this was achieved, as the negotiators utilized political power, built relationships of trust across the negotiating table, and strategically managed communications with the press and the media. Leading through Ingenuity underscores the importance of facilitative leadership, as the key players on each side read the negotiation proceedings in real time to improvise, reassess, caucus, and clarify with each other in small informal settings, to refocus and redefine their delegation’s negotiation strategies. Finally, Testing the Ways to Agreement explains how the negotiating parties used points of provisional accord in order to maintain momentum, creatively propose options without committing, evaluate multiple packages, and move toward consensus, to the ultimate success of the Colorado River binational negotiation process.

Introduction to the Gulf of Mexico Negotiations

Introduces the Gulf of Mexico case, presenting an overview of the chapters to follow, as well as providing context for analysis of the treaty negotiations with a summary and scope of the 2012 landmark United States-Mexico Transboundary Hydrocarbons Agreement. Outlines key stakeholders in government, industry and the NGO sectors, the decades-long history of protracted energy maritime disputes between the two countries, the vast oil and natural gas transboundary resources at stake, and the mutual gains approach that underpinned the negotiations.

Beyond Hard Bargaining

Outlines the significance of re-thinking the negotiation, leadership, collaborative decision-making, and political communication strategies we rely on to resolve transboundary water and energy conflicts, as it pertains to shaping the economic, environmental, and social prosperity of the communities we belong to. Emphasizes an interdisciplinary research approach to ascertain whether the manner in which governments, industry, and NGOs conduct transboundary resource management negotiations alters the prospects for finding effective agreements. Such factors include: how they frame a dispute; who they send as representatives; what preparatory work they do; what principles they use to structure the negotiation process; how they define their interests and estimate those of the other side; what ground rules they establish; how they respond to unpredictable and uncertain circumstances; by which criteria they create and distribute value; how they insulate the agreement against spoilers; and how they structure follow through.

Enhancing the Prospects for Finding Agreement

Analyzes how the evidence from the Gulf of Mexico and Colorado River cases relates to the four realms of scholarship underpinning and combined through this book’s interdisciplinary research: public dispute resolution, adaptive leadership, collaborative decision-making, and political communication. These four areas, while intersecting in many ways, are often discussed, both in academia and the general public, separately from one another. Exploring the two cases through the combination of several propositions from these four areas, contributes to the development of a number of interdisciplinary practices that can assist stakeholders in the active resolution of transboundary energy, water, and environmental disputes.