Dilemma routines for dialogue in the context of systemic competition
How do you deal with counterparts who do not recognize your own basic rules and values, and whose conduct you cannot accept, but with whom you are in a sensitive relationship of dependency? How can ‘rotten’ compromises be avoided in such relations – i.e., compromises that will be regretted because they support an inhumane regime or undermine the social value contract your own political system is based on? How to avoid in such contexts that dialogue activities are exploited, without risking that they are terminated in response? This article sets forth a concrete methodological approach to systematically manage the dilemmatic pattern inherent in international relationships in the context of systemic competition and fundamental differences in values. Of course, the approach cannot eliminate the need for further compromises in the face of radical differences, but it can help evade avoidable and unacceptable harm in these compromises and to elevate the quality of difficult but necessary dialogues.
