Negotiating on Unequal Ground: How Identity, Inequality, and Power Shape Successful Strategies

This thesis investigates how negotiators operating from structurally marginalized positions — on the basis of gender, ethnicity, class, or institutional status — achieve successful outcomes. These negotiators are not just disadvantaged because of what they are negotiating for, but also because of who they are and how they are perceived. Together, these overlapping challenges form what this research titles “compounded power imbalance”. To examine how certain negotiators succeed where structural power is limited, this study draws on 13 in-depth interviews with Indigenous women working at the Women’s Justice Initiative (WJI) in Guatemala. Instead of confronting power directly, these women succeed by strategically choosing when to work within the power structures around them. The research identifies four key approaches: (1) multi-layered preparation (informational, emotional, and collective), (2) tactical reframing of narratives, (3) adaptive use of key skills and traits, and (4) a non...Show moreThis thesis investigates how negotiators operating from structurally marginalized positions — on the basis of gender, ethnicity, class, or institutional status — achieve successful outcomes. These negotiators are not just disadvantaged because of what they are negotiating for, but also because of who they are and how they are perceived. Together, these overlapping challenges form what this research titles “compounded power imbalance”. To examine how certain negotiators succeed where structural power is limited, this study draws on 13 in-depth interviews with Indigenous women working at the Women’s Justice Initiative (WJI) in Guatemala. Instead of confronting power directly, these women succeed by strategically choosing when to work within the power structures around them. The research identifies four key approaches: (1) multi-layered preparation (informational, emotional, and collective), (2) tactical reframing of narratives, (3) adaptive use of key skills and traits, and (4) a non-confrontational approach to harnessing power. These findings challenge dominant models that equate negotiation power with force or authority, offering instead a framework grounded in relational and adaptive strategies. By centering perspectives that are often excluded from negotiation theory, this research expands understandings of the strategies, and conditions, that lead to success in negotiations. It also aims to highlights the pragmatic, resourceful, and resilient negotiators who succeed against all odds.Show less

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Negotiating on Unequal Ground: How Identity, Inequality, and Power Shape Successful Strategies