Negotiation

We're done with negotiations!!! One of our key points was that compromise isn't the best way to end a negotiation. We should always be thinking about win-win and what outcome would be the best for both ourselves and our partners. During our discussions, however, some people mentioned how real life negotiations wouldn't be as easy as the ones we did in class. A lot of the times situations are too complicated to be win-win, and other times we just want to win, no matter what our partner's outcome may be. I totally agree. And I think one of the most complicated situations are at levels of negotiations amongst countries. 

For one thing, the negotiations nations handle, deal with big and complicated subjects and issues. Most of the times, these subjects and issues contain financial problems which could even easily change a country's status. Therefore most of the time one country gets what they want and the other gets nothing. Or in some cases, there is no conclusion at all. If we take the negotiation of the Northern Territories between Japan and Russia as an example, it is easy to understand that coming up with a conclusion where both are happy is very difficult. Both sides care for the advantage of having the islands. And it is whether they get the islands or end up with nothing at all. That is precisely why Japan and Russia have been on this topic for decades. The negotiation seems to go no where even though both sides are willing to solve the problem. Same goes to many of the other international negotiations. It is very rear to reach a win-win conclusion, or even just a conclusion.

Secondly, there is the case where one side does not consider the necessity of a negotiation. For example, North Korea has closed its doors to nearly all negotiations dealing with their use of nuclear weapons and world safety. Neither win-win nor compromise can be met simply because no negotiation is held. 

Just to wrap up the mess I have above, I'd like to mention that in some situations, negotiations aren't as easy as the ones we practiced in class (obviously...). In some cases negotiations do not work as smoothly, or in extreme cases, negotiations are simply just refused. But even though real life may seem harsher than in-class practices, I hope to keep in mind the fact that some people have been successful at negotiations.