Eine Lösung, mit der beide leben können — a solution both can live with. The standard German formulation, and the verb is leben, to live.
Sich zusammenraufen — to scuffle one’s way together. A rough process with a settled ending.
Auf einen gemeinsamen Nenner kommen — to arrive at a common denominator.
Unter einen Hut bringen — to bring under one hat, said of reconciling competing interests.
Gesichtswahrung. Face-saving. German conflict resolution attends to it explicitly, and the word is used openly in describing how a settlement was constructed. A resolution that humiliates one party is understood to be unstable, and constructing the exit is part of the work.
German federalism requires agreement between the federal government and the states across broad areas of legislation, through a second chamber composed of state governments. The constitution obliges the levels to reach terms. A majority is frequently not enough.
In German usage the word carries no suggestion of weakness or of principles surrendered. Ein tragfähiger Kompromiss — a load-bearing compromise — is the standard phrase, and the metaphor is structural. The compromise is a thing that has to hold weight.
Interessenausgleich. Balance of interests. The German legal term for what an employer must negotiate with the works council before a major operational change. The statute names the objective, and it is not agreement or settlement. It is balance.
Sozialpartnerschaft. Employers and unions in Germany are called social partners, by both sides and by the state. The word describes a relationship that is genuinely adversarial as a joint undertaking, and the naming shapes what an acceptable outcome looks like.
German political and business speech treats consensus as the objective rather than as an unusually good outcome. Konsensfähig — capable of consensus — is a compliment applied to proposals and to people. A position that cannot attract agreement is described as defective rather than as merely unpopular.
Mitbestimmung. German company law places employee representatives on the supervisory boards of large firms, half the seats in those above two thousand employees. The structure assumes that a decision reached without one side represented lacks something — and builds the representation in before any conflict arises.
Der Güterichter. German courts appoint judges whose function is to conduct settlement negotiations rather than to rule — a separate judge from the one who would decide the case, with no power over the outcome. The court provides a route to agreement that cannot become a route to judgment.
Germany passed a dedicated Mediation Act in 2012, defining the process, the mediator’s confidentiality and independence, and providing for judges to refer cases to it. Mediation is defined by the parties reaching their own solution. The mediator has no power to decide.