332 13. Punctuated negotiations: transitions, interruptions, and turning points Daniel Druckman and Mara Olekalns On 8 December 1987, U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev signed a treaty agreeing to eliminate all nuclear delivery vehicles with ranges from 500 to 5500 kilometers. Known as the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, this was the first time that an entire category of nuclear weapons had been eliminated from the arsenals of either superpower. The Treaty was the outcome of eight years of negotiation. It occurred as a result of several key decisions made by Gorbachev. One decision, made in October 1985, was the separation of French and British forces from the U.S. systems. Another, made in February 1987, was to de-link strategic and space weapons from INF systems. A third, made in July 1987, consisted of a proposed “double zero” option that made verification easier. Each of these decisions resolved major sticking points and cleared the way for the scheduling of a summit between the leaders in Reykjavik Iceland. The summit served to speed the negotiation process toward the agreement. These three decisions and the summit event are widely regarded as turning points that served to punctuate the negotiation process. They share several features. Each is a change from earlier events, in varying degrees of abruptness, triggered by an impasse. The changes are clear or self-evident: Observers are likely to agree that a change has occurred. Each consists of an action taken by one of the parties with consequences for both: Two consequences were progress in the negotiation and a change in the relationship between the parties. Knowing how and when they occur and with what consequences would seem essential to understanding the way a negotiation unfolds. Of particular interest are the questions: Which changes are sufficiently important to turn the talks in the direction of agreements or impasses? What accounts for the changes? These questions are the basis for research on turning points in negotiation. The idea of turning points – regarded as critical moments during an interaction or developmental process – has captured the imagination of analysts in a variety of fields. It has been a useful concept in studies con- ducted from a psychoanalytic perspective (e.g., Rothstein, 1997), in analy- ses of communication in relationships (e.g., Hooper and Drummond, Daniel Druckman and Mara Olekalns - 9781781005903 Downloaded from PubFactory at 05/02/2022 01:47:21AM via free access