Obstacles to Clear Signalling

Abstract

Previous chapters have discussed two of the major influences on the likely success of a conciliatory initiative, the context within which the initiative occurs and the characteristics of the initiative itself, the latter affecting the recognisability and the credibility of the move. Two further important sets of factors are likely to have a major influence on the likely initiation of some conciliatory move and its probable impact.

‘We have suffered and sacrificed too much to turn back now.’

Arthur Scargill, President of the National Union of Mineworkers, at the height of the NUM-National Coal Board conflict in 1985 in which the miners were decisively ‘defeated’