Power Dynamics & Coalition Building Flashcards

A coalition negotiator uses a 'side payment' strategy primarily to:

Answer: Compensate a specific ally with private benefits to secure or maintain their coalition membership

Side payments are private benefits offered to key parties to make coalition membership more attractive than any competing offer from the opposing side.

Which scenario BEST illustrates the use of 'negative power' in negotiation?

Answer: A regulator threatening to withhold permits unless environmental standards are met

Negative power is the ability to block or withhold something the other party wants, as exemplified by the regulator's threat to deny permits.

In a coalition, 'log-rolling across parties' differs from bilateral log-rolling because it:

Answer: Requires coordinating issue trades among three or more parties simultaneously, increasing complexity

Multi-party log-rolling requires mapping each party's priorities and orchestrating a web of issue trades across the whole group, which is far more complex than a simple bilateral swap.

When two parties in a coalition have opposed interests on a secondary issue, the coalition leader should FIRST:

Answer: Identify whether the parties can agree to trade or bracket the secondary issue to preserve alignment on the primary goal

Internal coalition conflicts on secondary issues are best managed by trading, bracketing, or deferring them so the coalition stays unified on the main objective.

A negotiator who says 'Take it or leave it' to end further discussion is deploying which power tactic?

Answer: Final offer/ultimatum tactic

The final offer or ultimatum tactic attempts to end bargaining by declaring the current offer non-negotiable, transferring all risk of impasse to the other party.

Which factor MOST increases a coalition's stability over time in a multi-round negotiation?

Answer: Aligning coalition members' long-term interests rather than only their immediate positions

Coalitions built on shared underlying interests are more durable because members remain committed even as positions evolve across multiple negotiation rounds.

A negotiator who intentionally reveals selective data to shape the other party's perception of the situation is using:

Answer: Information power

Information power derives from controlling what data the other party sees, allowing the holder to frame reality in ways that support their negotiating position.