THE ROLE OF NEGOTIATIONS AND ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF EL SALVADOR’S PEACE ACCORDS A Dissertation Presented to The Graduate Faculty of The University of Akron In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Hugo Renderos December, 2011 THE ROLE OF NEGOTIATIONS AND ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF EL SALVADOR’S PEACE ACCORDS Hugo Renderos Dissertation Approved: Accepted: _________________________ _________________________ Advisor Interim Department Chair Raymond W. Cox, III Mark Tausig _________________________ _________________________ Committee Member Dean of the College Jennifer K. Alexander Chand K. Midha _________________________ _________________________ Committee Member Dean of the Graduate School Ramona Ortega-Liston George R. Newkome _________________________ _________________________ Committee Member Date Ghazi Falah _________________________ Committee Member Steven Ash ii ABSTRACT This dissertation focuses on the Salvadorean peace accords signed between the government and the former guerrilla turned political party Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front; FMLN). The end of the Salvadorean civil war era ended in 1992 as peace accords were signed between the government and FMLN leaders. The signing of the peace accords took time to complete and much dialogue required both parties to meet to negotiate and settle on timelines and agenda setting. This study explores the peace accords from the perspective of the soft, hard, and principled negotiation method as described by Fisher and Ury (1981) and by applying Allison and Zelikow’s (1999) Rational Actor Model (RAM) (Model I) and the Governmental Politics Model (Model III). It studies how the peace negotiations, as seen through the lenses of all three methods of negotiations and models I and III, influenced its implementation. All three negotiation methods and models I and III explain how the peace accord negotiations influenced its implementation. Specifically, it addresses the following research questions: 1. How did the negotiations influence its implementation? 2. How did intra-group politics influence the language of the Salvadorean peace accords? 3. How did intra-group disagreements generate soft-outcomes inhibiting implementation? 4. What has been the impact of language ambiguities encountered in the accords’ provisions during their implementation? The research conducted indicates the negotiations heavily influenced the peace accords’ implementation. Both negotiating parties first had to conduct intra-group iii negotiations before negotiating between themselves. The dynamics of intra-group negotiations impacted the accords’ negotiations, wording, and direction. There were two negotiating parties to the accords, as a consequence, there were ambiguities found in the wording of the accords. This is normal for an event of this magnitude since both parties had personal, political, and organizational interests to secure. By inserting ambiguous language, both parties were able to manipulate the accords according to each party’s needs and interests. A pattern that seems very pronounced is that regardless of the negotiating approach to the accords, both parties ended negotiating in the long run in order to avoid intervention from any outside party. During the negotiations, both negotiating groups approached the negotiating table with the hard approach only to later succumb to negotiations which were carefully worded, crafted according to each party’s interests, and manipulable for future face saving. Language ambiguities caused the some issues and themes in the Salvadorean peace accords to remain unmentioned. As a result of this, certain provisions in the peace accords remained unnegotiated. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................ 1 Historic Barriers To Democracy ................................................................................................................ 3 The 1979-1992 Civil War ............................................................................................................................ 6 The Accords............................................................................................................................................... 10 Implementing Democracy ....................................................................................................................... 11 Theoretical Framework ............................................................................................................................ 14 Investigative Techniques .......................................................................................................................... 17 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................. 17 II. LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................................................ 19 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................... 19 Background Literature ............................................................................................................................ 22 Quality Decisions ....................................................................................................................................... 45 The Agency Problem ................................................................................................................................. 46 Participants: Who Plays? ......................................................................................................................... 47 Decisions Rules .......................................................................................................................................... 47 Groupthink ................................................................................................................................................ 48 Post Accord Implementation .................................................................................................................... 49 III. METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................................................................... 55 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................... 55 Defining Qualitative Research Methods.................................................................................................. 56 Reasons For Using Qualitative Research Methods ................................................................................ 58 Data Collection .......................................................................................................................................... 58 Data Analysis ............................................................................................................................................. 61 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................. 62 IV. RESULTS .................................................................................................................................................... 64 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................... 64 Mechanics Of The Negotiations ............................................................................................................... 67 How Did The Negotiations Influence Its Implementation? ................................................................... 69 v How Did Intra-Group Politics Influence the Language Of The Salvadorean Peace Accords? .......... 76 How Did Those Intra-Group Disagreements Generated Soft Outcomes Inhibiting Implementation? . .................................................................................................................................................................... 84 What Has Been The Impact Of Language Ambiguities Encountered In The Accords' Provisions During Their Implementation? ................................................................................................................ 91 V. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS ................................................................................................. 98 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................... 98 Summary Of Findings............................................................................................................................. 100 Limitations ............................................................................................................................................... 102 Future Research ...................................................................................................................................... 102 Implications ............................................................................................................................................