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Including Inglewood Airport Area • Baldwin Hills • Crenshaw/LA • Ladera Heights VOL. 22, No. 42
October 17, 2013
Coming Out on Top: Negotiation Theory and the US Government Shutdown
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By Becky Batagol, Senior Lecturer in Law at Monash University
he end of the two week-long US government shutdown appears imminent, and a temporary lift to the American debt ceiling is in place. But what do we know about the various theories of negotiation that underpinned the politicking between Democrats and Republicans in Washington, D.C.? During the shutdown, various news articles attempted to explain the shutdown and debt ceiling negotiations in terms of game theory or the Cold War, alongside advice from negotiation experts which proposed solutions to the standoff. Much of this analysis radically oversimplified the complexity of the specific circumstances of the negotiation process and oversold the predictive power of negotiation theory. Earlier this week, Cass Sunstein, the Robert Walmsley Professor at Harvard Law School published a widely read piece for Bloomberg.
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Veterans Upstaged by Tea Partiers
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By Veronica Mackey
unday’s Tea Party protest in front of the White House got a lot of attention, but it was not the attention organizers of the Million Vet March were looking to get. Brats for Veterans Advocacy Group —the group behind the Million Vet March—wrote: “We feel disheartened that What negotiating tactics did Republican Speaker John Boehner employ in trying to some would seek to hijack outflank the Democrats in the standoff over the US government shutdown and debt the narrative for political ceiling? EPA/Michael Reynolds He argued that in the context of the shutdown negotiations, powerlessness was actually very powerful. In a negotiation, you might well have more power if you are powerless. Strength can be weakness, and weakness can be strength. Sunstein used the economic theory of Nobel-winning economist and game theorist Thomas Schelling to argue that Republican Speaker John Boehner was in a powerful negotiating position because
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of the lack of control he exerted over intransigent House Republicans. In Sunstein’s view, the volatility of Boehner’s own position and the impossibility of controlling House Republicans meant that the Republicans should have been able to negotiate an excellent deal for themselves because compromise on their part was unlikely. So, powerlessness in the form of an inability to compromise became a source of negotiating power.
Sunstein also argued that president Barack Obama’s bargaining position was weakened by some interpretations of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution, which argued that the president had the power to ensure that national debts were paid, even if Congress hadn’t raised the debt limit. Sunstein claimed that this interpretation, if correct, undermined Obama’s negotiating power because it (Continued on page 12)
The Lost Generation? By Thomas Bunn
recently discovered a young brother who claims to have the formula for success. His name is Jullien Gordon, graduate of both UCLA and Stanford with a Master’s Degree in Education. He currently speaks at colleges and universities around the country to students who are still undecided in their majors, and those seeking employment after graduation.
Jullien Gordon
Jullien believes the problem is that students often take the back seat in the vehicles of their own lives. They allow society or parents to drive them where they want them to go. The problem with this is that it creates a workforce of people who are uncommitted, unfocused, and ulti(Continued on page 2)
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(L-R) Former Gov. Sarah Palin and Sen. Ted Cruz
Man waves Confederate flags at rally. gain. The core principle is about all Americans honoring Veterans in a peaceful and apolitical manner.” What was supposed to be a peaceful gathering to underscore veterans rights soon became the backdrop for conservative politicians with an axe to grind against President Barack Obama. The Brats group clearly outlines their list of don’ts. (Continued on page 2)