To compromise is to make a deal between different parties where each party gives up part of their
demand
In economics, demand is the quantity of a goods, good that consumers are willing and able to purchase at various prices during a given time. In economics "demand" for a commodity is not the same thing as "desire" for it. It refers to both the desi ...
. In
argument
An argument is a series of sentences, statements, or propositions some of which are called premises and one is the conclusion. The purpose of an argument is to give reasons for one's conclusion via justification, explanation, and/or persu ...
s, compromise means finding
agreement through
communication
Communication is commonly defined as the transmission of information. Its precise definition is disputed and there are disagreements about whether Intention, unintentional or failed transmissions are included and whether communication not onl ...
, through a mutual
acceptance
Acceptance in psychology is a person's recognition and assent to the finality of a situation without attempting to change or protest it. This plays out at both the individual and societal level as people experience change.
Types of acceptanc ...
of terms—often involving variations from an original
goal
A goal or objective is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan, and commit to achieve. People endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines.
A goal is roughly similar to ...
or desires. Defining and finding the best possible compromise is an important problem in fields like
game theory
Game theory is the study of mathematical models of strategic interactions. It has applications in many fields of social science, and is used extensively in economics, logic, systems science and computer science. Initially, game theory addressed ...
and the
voting
Voting is the process of choosing officials or policies by casting a ballot, a document used by people to formally express their preferences. Republics and representative democracies are governments where the population chooses representative ...
system.
Research indicates that suboptimal compromises are often the result of negotiators failing to realize when they have interests that are completely compatible with those of the other party, leading them to settle for suboptimal agreements. Mutually better outcomes can often be found by careful investigation of both parties' interests, especially if done early in negotiations.
The compromise solution of a multicriteria
decision making
In psychology, decision-making (also spelled decision making and decisionmaking) is regarded as the cognitive process resulting in the selection of a belief or a course of action among several possible alternative options. It could be either ra ...
or
multi-criteria decision analysis problem that is the closest to the ideal could be determined by the
VIKOR method, which provides a maximum utility of the majority, and a minimum individual regret of the opponent.
Politics
In international politics, compromises often discussed include infamous deals with dictators, such as
Neville Chamberlain
Arthur Neville Chamberlain (; 18 March 18699 November 1940) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from ...
's
appeasement
Appeasement, in an International relations, international context, is a diplomacy, diplomatic negotiation policy of making political, material, or territorial concessions to an aggressive power (international relations), power with intention t ...
of
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
. Margalit calls these "rotten compromises." In the United States and other democratic countries , many politicians of recent times
permanently campaign to gain reelection. Thus, United States Ambassador to Germany
Amy Gutmann and political scientist
Dennis F. Thompson have observed that compromise is more difficult. The problem of political compromise in general is an important subject in
political ethics Political ethics (also known as political morality or public ethics) is the practice of making moral judgments about political action and political agents. It covers two areas: the ethics of process (or the ethics of office), which covers public off ...
.
Politicians being willing to compromise can reduce
partisanship and hostility. Politics is sometimes called the "art of compromise". Polling by the American Survey Center indicates that Americans take a favorable view of political compromise.
Human relationships
In human relationships, "compromise" can make no party happy because the parties involved feel that they either gave away too much or that they received too little.
Compromise may be referred to as
capitulation, a "
surrender" of objectives, principles, or material.
Extremism
Extremism is "the quality or state of being extreme" or "the advocacy of extreme measures or views". The term is primarily used in a political or religious sense to refer to an ideology that is considered (by the speaker or by some implied sha ...
is often considered as an
antonym
In lexical semantics, opposites are words lying in an inherently incompatible binary relationship. For example, something that is ''even'' entails that it is not ''odd''. It is referred to as a 'binary' relationship because there are two members i ...
to compromise, which, depending on context, may be associated with concepts of
balance
Balance may refer to:
Common meanings
* Balance (ability) in biomechanics
* Balance (accounting)
* Balance or weighing scale
* Balance, as in equality (mathematics) or equilibrium
Arts and entertainment Film
* Balance (1983 film), ''Balance'' ( ...
and
tolerance.
See also
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References
External links
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{{Authority control
Arguments
Game theory