Leadership and Negotiation in the European Union

Jonas Tallberg offers a novel perspective on some of the most fundamental questions about international cooperation and European Union politics. In the first systematic theoretical and empirical exploration of the influence wielded by chairmen of multilateral negotiations, Tallberg develops a rationalist theory of formal leadership and demonstrates its explanatory power through carefully selected case studies of EU negotiations. His provacative analysis establishes that Presidents, while performing vital functions for the EU, simultaneously exploit their privlieged political position to favor national interests. Extending the scope of the analysis to international negotiations on trade, security and the environment, Tallberg further demonstrates that the influence of the EU Presidency is not an isolate occurrence but the expression of a general phenomenon in world politics - the power of the chair.