End brinkmanship and go for a win-win on farm laws
Farmers raise slogans during their ongoing agitation against Centre's farm laws at Singhu border in New Delhi.
(PTI)Premium
Madhuri Saripalle
Let’s help create conditions for both sides of this standoff to adopt strategic thinking to their mutual benefit
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Protests, negotiations and differences in opinion are the hallmark of a democracy. But sometimes, these protests take the form of an undesirable zero-sum game because of brinkmanship. This refers to a slow-burn strategy by an opponent who pushes you to the ‘brink’ of disaster by increasing your risk of losing everything. The term attained a public profile during the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, when the US and Soviet Union were on the brink of a nuclear war. This strategy is pursued in various contexts, such as wage negotiations and trade wars. Both parties may relentlessly pursue this strategy until one of them finally succeeds in getting its way. But at what cost? It might be too late before both parties realize that the size of the pie has diminished considerably after accounting for various losses, be it in terms of production days, property, impact on people, etc.