Sachverhaltsaufklärung. Clarification of the facts. German procedural law obliges a court to establish what actually happened before applying any rule to it, and the phase has its own name and its own stage in the judgment. The facts are settled first, as separate work.
Saving face
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.
Federalism by agreement
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.
The load-bearing compromise
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.
Balance of interests
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.
Social partnership
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.
Consensus as the objective
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.
Co-determination
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.
The settlement judge
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.
The Mediation Act
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.