This article draws on principal-agent theories in the international organization literature and postagreement negotiation analysis in the negotiation literature to examine a case of international development negotiations among parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.

The role of the “collective principal” - the negotiating body of state actors that creates an international organization - is described and the analysis examines subsequent negotiations when the parties, as principal, do not coalesce into a collective actor regarding the mandate for the organization - or agent - they created.

The article suggests that postagreement negotiation analysis provides an understanding of the vehicle through which the “principal” provides “collective” oversight of the agent, and examines what we label the “regime interpretation” negotiations involved with this case.