As the federal budget deadline nears, I am seeking the advice and analysis of some of the country’s most prominent negotiation gurus to illuminate the motivations driving the on-again, off-again bargaining sessions between the Democrats and the GOP.

As Harvard professors Max Bazerman and Deepak Malhotra advise in their must-read Negotiation Genius, before concluding that our negotiation partners (or elected representatives) are crazy or evil, we should be asking ourselves whether they have unknown interests, are operating under hidden constraints, or are ignorant of facts of which we are aware.

These are the issues I’ve asked Adam Galinsky, Professor of Ethics and Decision in Management at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, to address.

What are the interests driving the federal budget negotiations?

Professor Galinsky: The parties’ interests exist at three levels: principle, prosperity, and politics.

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