The nucleon-nucleon potential is analysed using the 1/N_c expansion of QCD.The NN potential is shown to have an expansion in 1/N_c^2, and the strengths ofthe leading order central, spin-orbit, tensor, and quadratic spin-orbit forces(including isospin dependence) are determined. Comparison with a successfulphenomenological potential (Nijmegen) shows that the large-N_c analysisexplains many of the qualitative features observed in the nucleon-nucleoninteraction. The 1/N_c expansion implies an effective Wigner supermultipletsymmetry for light nuclei. Results for baryons containing strange quarks arepresented in an appendix.

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