Culture and Conflict: Enlarging our Dispute Resolution Framework Situations Favorable to a Strategy's Usage · Parties have equal power. · Concerns of parties at the table override collective issues, or parties at the table can be trusted to incorporate collective issues. Rights · Parties can agree on legitimate and applicable principles. · There are few special circumstances. · Fairness or the appearance of fairness is important. · Power imbalances exist, and the powerful party is likely to exploit the weaker party. · Building principles or setting precedent is important. Power · Power imbalances are clear and accepted. · Other obligations encourage the stronger party to protect or assist the weaker party. · Value is placed on quick resolution. Collective focus vs. fo- cus on individual par- ties · Collective identity is strong. · One or both parties are tightly linked (structurally) to other members of collective. 144 Conclusion Just as contracts are imperfect, leading parties to inevitable disputes, dispute resolution strategies are also imperfect, forcing parties to weigh various benefits and costs across a spectrum of players. Most important, however, is that strategic choice be conscious and informed. Incorporating cultural findings has expanded our own understanding of the costs and benefits of various strategies and augmented the number of alternative foci, thereby hopefully improving disputants' abilities to make informed disputing choices and reach more effective resolutions.