Who prevails in international negotiations? What impact do negotiated agreements have on the policies and actions of participating countries? How well do contemporary international relations theories answer these questions? Using the case of trade negotiations in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the author assesses the explanatory power of a number of models derived from the neo-realist approach, as well as from the theoretical literature on international regimes, international organization and interdependence. The study sheds new light on an important but poorly understood organization. It presents an in-depth historical account of negotiations conducted in the 1970s in four areas: export credits, agricultural trade, steel trade and trade in ships.