Seven Secrets for Negotiating with Government: How to Deal with Local, State, National, or Foreign Governments—and Come Out Ahead

• CHAPTER ONE •

The Many Ways of Negotiating

with Governments

‘‘You can’t fightcity hall.’’

—ANON YMOUS

You may not be able to fight city hall, but you certainly can negoti-

ate with it. In fact, short of successful armed insurrection, the only

way any individual or company can deal effectively with any gov-

ernment—local, state, national, or foreign—is through negotia-

tion. If it’s true, as Edmund Burke has said, that ‘‘government is a

contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human needs,’’ it is

also true that governments do not necessarily provide for your

needs automatically. You have to negotiate to get them.

The Scope of Dealings with Governments

Dealings with governments by individuals and organizations cover

a wide variety of participants, a multiplicity ...