1. Time and patience.

Parties need time to build trust. Initially the parties will want to make clear their positions and not make any concessions. They will explore each other’s positions and try to determine how they are going to negotiate. Granting each party a few small victories in the initial stages can really speed up the process. A good negotiator who is accepted by all parties will start by stressing what the dif- ferent parties have in common. It helps if he takes it slowly and tries to accomplish small steps. This increases the chance of a successful outcome.

2. The participants in a negotiation must have at least something in common and share a few common goals.

If two parties’ goals are diametrically opposed, a coalition is out of the question. On the other hand, two parties’ goals do not have to be identical to make a coalition possible; if so, there would be no need to have different parties. To form a coalition a political party needs to find parties whose goals are roughly similar and who share a few goals that coincide entirely. In Holland, for instance, coalitions between the Social Democrats and Christian Democrats are not unusual. This is because both parties advocate an altruistic and a strong civil society.

3. It is a great help if there is a common opponent.

This is not enough in itself, but in a certain phase it can act as the glue that binds parties with different ideologies. An example is the Orange Revolution in Ukraine in 2004, where Liberal Democrats and Socialists joined forces. When questioned about his collaboration with the liberal Yushchenko, the Socialist leader Moroz said: “Better a liberal than a criminal.” The problem with these kinds of coalitions is that they will not last once the common goal (in this case: regime change and democratization) has been achieved.

4. The negotiating parties must have some respect for each other.

They have to respect the legitimacy of the other party and its goals. Old grudges resulting from a fierce election campaign have to be buried. The leaders of the respective parties do not have to be friends, but they do have to respect each other, and they have to respect the fact that they each represent a support base. They have to make al- lowances for each other and accept that the coalition must give some latitude to the leaders of the different subgroups within their support base. Many coalitions fail because the leaders jealously guard their own territory. If one leader cannot accept the other’s presence in the coalition, negotiations are doomed to fail.

5. The negotiators have to be highly skilled and respected by all participating parties.

Coercion is not an option during coalition talks. Exchange is the most logical negotiation method here, but ideally the parties arrive at an agreement on the basis of reasoned argument: in that way the parties create a common goal, which helps to guarantee the coalition’s viability.

6. All parties have to be willing to make concessions, but they should never lose sight of the desires of their support base.

The participants in a negotiation are usually prepared to make concessions, otherwise they would not have entered the negotiation. But caught up in the momentum of the negotiations, leaders sometimes find themselves running too far away from the membership and supporters.

7. It is easier if parties do not set their goals too high.

Small steps are easier to take than big ones, and many small steps eventually cover a lot of distance. The advice not to be too demanding applies not only to the policies, but also to the projected duration of the coalition.

8. It is easier to form a coalition when there is an obvious shared national task (e.g. economic recovery and the creation of jobs).

In the Netherlands the Liberal and Social Democrat parties formed a coalition in 1994 that lasted eight years. The principal slogan was: “work, work, work” – a slogan that was acceptable for left and right- wing parties alike.

9. It is important not to disclose any inside information about the negotiations to the press.

Before starting negotiations, the parties should lay down strict rules about who will talk to the press and when. All negotiating parties should obey these rules or the negotiations will fail. In 2003, for instance, one of the reasons the coalition negotiations between the Dutch CDA and PvdA failed was that every time a little head- way was made, the media immediately caught wind of it.

When three years later both parties made a second attempt, they had learned their lesson. Not a shred of information made the news without explicit permission from both parties. Too much openness and media attention is dangerous because it encourages parties to act tough in order to satisfy their supporters. It reduces their willingness to compromise because they feel the voter is looking over their shoulder, effectively minimizing their margin for negotiation.

On the other hand, parties can report tentative achievements to the outside world by mutual consent in order to keep their respective supporters satisfied. Parties should be careful, however, not to give political opponents the opportunity to denounce their plans before a final agreement has been reached. It is usually best to wait and present the coalition agreement in its entirety upon completion. At that point it is easier to argue that, although some concessions were inevitable, the agreement’s achievements in other areas more than make up for them.

Source: Becoming a better politician: political skills manual