We can work it out
With political gridlock and partisan brinksmanship in the U.S. Congress at an all-time high, when the sight of opposing party leaders huddling to hammer out a budget deal is news, political scientists recently looked at the history and causes of disagreement in American politics. Now, they’re bringing their insights to bear on what most of the public agrees has become an intractable situation. The key to getting beyond polarization and legislative stagnation, they say, is to find a way to the bargaining table and a way to negotiate. In a comprehensive report published this week by the American Political Science Association, a task force of scholars from across the field considered the “institutional disincentives for cooperation and rewards for conflict” as well as “negotiation myopia” — the cognitive, emotional, and strategic errors people make that thwart agreements and mutual gains, and frequently foster legislative inertia. They also offered some best practices for...