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International Online Training Program On Intractable Conflict |
Conflict Research Consortium, University of Colorado, USA |
At the most basic level, all that it takes to reach an agreement is to find some formula which leaves all parties better off than they would otherwise expect to be. While this criteria produces a so called "win-win" solution, it does not necessarily produce a fair solution. For example, consider a hypothetical situation in which two parties agree to contribute equally to an activity that generates $100,000 in income per year. In this case a fair agreement would divide the profits equally with each party making about $50,000. By contrast an unfair, but still win-win agreement would distribute the benefits unequally with, perhaps, with one party receiving $90,000 and the other $10,000. Such unfair treatment is likely to foster resentment between the parties and could easily lead the unfairly treated party to withdraw, eliminating a mutually beneficial arrangement. Such unfair treatment could even establish a hostile relationship among parties who would otherwise have been partners.
Links to Related Problems
Attempts to Unfairly Distribute the Benefits of Agreement
Limits to Agreement: Better Alternatives
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