The Mindsets of Political Compromise

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The authors are grateful for research assistance provided by Erica Jaffe Redner and Sigal Ben-Porath.

Why is compromise on major issues so hard in democratic politics when no one doubts that it is necessary? We argue that a significant source of the resistance to political compromise lies in the democratic process itself. The increasing incursion of campaigning into governing in American democracy--the "permanent campaign"¹--encourages political attitudes and arguments that make compromise more difficult. The resistance to compromise is a problem for any democracy because it stands in the way of change that nearly everyone agrees is necessary, and thereby biases the political process in favor of the status quo.

The resistance to democratic compromise is anchored in what we call an uncompromising mindset, a cluster of attitudes and arguments that encourage standing on principle and mistrusting opponents.² This mindset is conducive to campaigning, but not to governing. Resistance to democratic compromise can and should be kept in check by a contrary cluster of attitudes and arguments--a compromising mindset--which favors adapting one's principles and respecting opponents. It is the mindset more appropriate for governing, because it enables politicians more readily to recognize opportunities for desirable compromise. Political scientists have exposed the harmful consequences of misplaced campaigning, but have not connected this problem with the mindsets we analyze here and their implications for democratic compromise.³

The influence of campaigning is not necessarily greater than other factors that make compromises more difficult, such as increased polarization and the immense influence of money in democratic politics. But the mindset associated with campaigning deserves greater attention than it has received because, first, it reinforces all the other factors. Even sharp ideological differences, for example, would present less of an obstacle to compromise in the absence of the continual pressures of campaigning. Second, unlike the other factors, campaigning is an essential and desirable part of the democratic process. It becomes a problem only when it interferes with another equally essential part of the process--governing.⁴ Third, if we want to make democracy more friendly toward compromise, we need to understand not only the partisan positions and political interests that affect compromise but also the arguments and attitudes that politicians use...