The negotiating process

UNCLOS III has been the forum for an unprecedented set of negotiations: the Conference has brought together all the states of the world, with the purpose of sharing out the oceans between the various categories of countries. The framework of this great meeting is seemingly that of a classic intergovernmental conference. But in fact this framework, developing certain practices that have already been tried in other assemblies, is making use of new methods of negotiation and decision making for all the questions under discussion.