Negotiari

Negotiari is a term used in some negotiation theory contexts to describe a form of bargaining that is persistent, iterative, and distributed across multiple actors and issues. It centers on process and relationship-building rather than securing a single optimal agreement, and it foregrounds legitimacy, trust, and long-term coordination as outcomes in their own right.

Origin and usage: The term emerged in interdisciplinary debates within political science, organizational studies, and public policy during the late 2000s and 2010s. It is often employed to distinguish ongoing, networked bargaining from one-off deals in which parties focus on discrete transactions.

Characteristics: Negotiari typically involves repeated rounds of negotiation, multi-issue agendas, and a broad set of participants beyond formal representatives. It relies on information sharing, joint problem framing, and credible commitments that can be verified over time. Power dynamics and unequal information remain important considerations, but the approach seeks to create value through collaboration rather than zero-sum bargaining.

Applications: The concept has been used to analyze international diplomacy, urban and environmental governance, multi-stakeholder corporate governance, and community mediation initiatives, where long-term relationships and shared rules help sustain cooperative outcomes.

Critique and relation to other terms: Critics argue that negotiari risks vagueness and measurement challenges, and that it overlaps with existing ideas such as collaborative governance, consensus-building, and integrative bargaining. Clear definitions and metrics are needed for empirical study.

See also: negotiation; mediation; collaborative governance; consensus-building.