In:Exploring Dialogue: Selected essays on argumentation by Erik C. W. Krabbe with contributions by Jan Albert van Laar
Edited by Erik C.W. Krabbe and Jan Albert van Laar
[Argumentation in Context 23] 2026
► pp. 344–375
Chapter 19Fair and unfair strategies in public controversies
Published online: 5 June 2026
https://doi.org/10.1075/aic.23.19van
https://doi.org/10.1075/aic.23.19van
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Controversies and strategies
- 3.Strategies in the controversy about natural gas and induced earthquakes in Groningen
- 4.Fair and unfair strategies
- 4.1Three aspects of fairness
- (1)Fair shares
- (2)No cheating
- (3)No coercion
- 4.2Fairness and unfairness in strategies
- (1)Misleading
- (2)Spinning
- (3)Trivialization
- (4)Fobbing off
- (5)Pushmi-pullyu
- (6)Belittlement
- (7)Shelving
- (8)Rationalization
- (9)Conciliation
- (10)Ad baculum
- (11)Daddy-gets-angry
- (12)Ad misericordiam
- (13)Quid pro quo
- (14)Asking too much
- 4.1Three aspects of fairness
- 5.Effects of strategies
- 6.Choosing one’s strategy
- 7.Conclusion
Acknowledgements Notes References
References (44)
Amgoud, Leila, and Henri Prade. 2006. “Formal
Handling of Threats and Rewards in a Negotiation
Dialogue.” In Argumentation in Multi-agent Systems:
Second International Workshop, ArgMAS 2005, Utrecht, The Netherlands, July 26, 2005: Revised Selected and
Invited Papers, ed. by Simon Parsons, Nicolas Maudet, Pavlos Moraitis, and Iyad Rahwan, 88–103. Berlin: Springer.
Blanken, Henk. 2013a. “Het lot van Loppersum [The Fate of
Loppersum].” Dagblad van het Noorden (Weekend,
p. 6), 18 May
2013.
. 2013b. “We zitten allemaal in een dooie hoek hier [We
Are All in a Blind Spot Over Here].” Dagblad van het
Noorden (p. 4), 2 November 2013.
. 2013c. “‘Ze zuigen het leeg en doen niets terug’ [‘They’re Sucking it Out and Do Nothing in Return’].” Dagblad van het
Noorden (p. 6), 9 April 2013.
Dascal, Marcelo. 2008. “Dichotomies
and Types of Debates.” In Controversy, and
Confrontation: Relating Controversy Analysis with Argumentation Theory, ed.
by Frans H. van Eemeren and Bart Garssen, 27–49. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Deutsch, Morton. 2014. “Cooperation,
Competition, and Conflict.” In The Handbook of
Conflict Resolution: Theory and Practice, 3rd ed., ed.
by Peter T. Coleman, Morton Deutsch, and Eric C. Marcus, 3–28. Somerset, NJ: John Wiley. First
edition: San Francisco CA: Jossey Bass, 2000.
de Veer, Johan. 2013a. “NAM geeft gewoon niet thuis [NAM Simply
Doesn’t Answer].” Dagblad van het
Noorden (p. 22), 12 September 2013.
. 2013b. “Mensen worden ongeduldig en steeds bozer [People are Getting Impatient and More and More Angry].” Dagblad van het
Noorden (p. 2), 5 December 2013.
Gabbay, Dov M., and Woods, John. 2001a. “Non-Cooperation
in Dialogue
Logic.” Synthese 127 (1–2): 161–186.
Gabbay, Dov M., and John Woods. 2001b. “More
on Non-Cooperation in Dialogue Logic.” Logic Journal of the
IGPL 9 (2): 321–339.
Jacobs, Scott. 1999. “Argumentation
as Normative Pragmatics.” In Proceedings of the
Fourth International Conference of the International Society for the Study of
Argumentation, ed. by Frans H. van Eemeren, Rob Grootendorst, J. Anthony Blair, and Charles A. Willard, 397–403. Amsterdam: SIC SAT.
. 2000. “Rhetoric
and Dialectic from the Standpoint of Normative
Pragmatics.” Argumentation 14 (3): 261–286.
. 2002. “Messages,
Functional Contexts, and Categories of Fallacy: Some Dialectical and Rhetorical
Considerations.” In Dialectic and Rhetoric: The Warp
and Woof of Argumentation Analysis (Argumentation library
6), ed. by Frans H. van Eemeren and Peter Houtlosser, 119–130. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
. 2009. “Nonfallacious
Rhetorical Design in Argumentation.” In Pondering on
Problems of Argumentation: Twenty Essays on Theoretical Issues (Argumentation
library 14), ed. by Frans H. van Eemeren and Bart Garssen.), 55–78. Springer.
Johnson, Ralph H. 2000. Manifest Rationality: A
Pragmatic Theory of Argument. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Johnson, Ralph H., and J. Anthony Blair. 1983. Logical
Self-defense, 2nd
ed. Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson. First ed. 1977.
Krabbe, Erik C. W. 2003. “Metadialogues.” In Anyone
Who Has a View: Theoretical Contributions to the Study of
Argumentation (Argumentation library
8), ed. by Frans H. van Eemeren, J. Anthony Blair, Charles A. Willard, and A. Francisca Snoeck Henkemans, 83–90. Dordrecht: Kluwer. [= Chapter
9 of this volume.]
Lewinski, Marcin, and Mark Aakhus. 2014. “Argumentative
Polylogues in a Dialectical Framework: A Methodological
Inquiry.” Argumentation 28 (2): 161–185.
Luyendijk, Wubby. 2014. “Het
beven wordt eerst nog erger [Quaking Getting Worse to Start with].” NRC
reader, 1 October
2014. 〈[URL]〉
. 2015. “Al een jaar belooft de NAM sommetjes over de risico’s [For a Year now NAM has been Promising to do Sums about the
Risks].” NRC-Handelsblad, 27 January 2015.
Meijer Commission. 2013. Vertrouwen in een duurzame toekomst: Een stevig perspectief voor Noord-Oost Groningen:
Eindadvies van de Commissie Duurzame Toekomst Noord-Oost Groningen [Trust in a Sustainable Future: A Solid Perspective for Northeast Groningen: Final
Recommendations of the Committee Sustainable Future Northeast Groningen]. 〈[URL]〉
NAM. 2012. Lichte aardbeving bij Sappemeer [Light Earthquake Near
Sappemeer]. Press release. 〈[URL]〉
RTV Noord. 2015. “VVD-kamerlid bespreekt gastactiek telefonisch in de trein [Liberal MP Discusses Gas Tactics on Telephone in Train].” RTV
Noord (website), 17
January 2015. 〈[URL]〉
Sevink, Geert Job. 2013. “De NAM bedrijft gewoon koehandel [The NAM is Just Engaged
in Horse-trading].” Dagblad van het
Noorden (p. 2), 24 September 2013.
van Dalen, Roelof. 2013. “In Westen denken ze dat beving kermisattractie is [In the West they Think a Quake is a Fairground
Attraction].” Dagblad van het
Noorden (p. 4), 2 November 2013.
van Eemeren, Frans H. 2010. Strategic Maneuvering
in Argumentative Discourse: Extending the Pragma-Dialectical Theory of
Argumentation. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
2015. “Identifying
Argumentative Patterns: A Vital Step in the Development of
Pragma-dialectics.” Argumentation 30 (1): 1–23.
van Eemeren, Frans H., Bart Garssen, and Bert Meuffels. 2012. “Effectiveness
through Reasonableness: Preliminary Steps to Pragma-dialectical Effectiveness
Research.” Argumentation 26 (1): 33–53.
van Eemeren, Frans H., and Rob Grootendorst. 1992. Argumentation,
Communication, and Fallacies: A Pragma-Dialectical Perspective. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
van Eemeren, Frans H., and Rob Grootendorst. 2004. A
Systematic Theory of
Argumentation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
van Eemeren, Frans H., and Peter Houtlosser. 2002. “Strategic
Manoeuvring in Argumentative Discourse: A Delicate
Balance.” In Dialectic and Rhetoric: The Warp and
Woof of Argumentation Analysis (Argumentation library
6), ed by. Frans H. van Eemeren, and Peter Houtlosser, 131–159. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
van Laar, Jan Albert, and Erik C. W. Krabbe. 2016a. “Eerlijke en oneerlijke strategieën in maatschappelijke
discussies [Fair and Unfair Strategies in Public
Controversies].” In De macht van de taal:
Taalbeheersingsonderzoek in Nederland en Vlaanderen [The Power of
Language: Research in Speech Communication in The Netherlands and Flanders], ed.
by Dorien Van De Mieroop, Lieven Buysse, Roel Coesemans en Paul Gillaerts, 131–143. Leuven: Acco.
. 2016b. “Fair
and Unfair Strategies in Public Controversies: The Case of Induced
Earthquakes.” In Argumentation and Reasoned Action:
Proceedings of the 1st European Conference on Argumentation, Lisbon 2015, ed.
by Dima Mohammed and Marcin Lewinski, 343–362. London: College Publications (Studies in Logic and Argumentation
62).
. 2016c. “Splitting
a Difference of Opinion.” In Argumentation,
Objectivity, and Bias: Proceedings of the 11th International Conference of the Ontario Society for the Study
of Argumentation (OSSA), May 18–21,
2016, ed. by Patrick Bondy and Laura Benacquista. Windsor, ON: OSSA. To be
published.
van Sluis, Bas. 2012. “De
grond beeft [The Ground Quakes].” Dagblad van het
Noorden (p. 10), 1 September 2012.
van Veenen, Jelle, and Henry Prakken. 2006. “A
Protocol for Arguing About Rejections in
Negotiation.” In Argumentation in Multi-agent
Systems: Second International Workshop, ArgMAS 2005, Utrecht, The Netherlands, July 26, 2005: Revised Selected
and Invited Papers, ed. by Simon Parsons, Nicolas Maudet, Pavlos Moraitis, and Iyad Rahwan (Eds.) 138–153. Berlin: Springer.
Walton, Douglas N. 1995. A Pragmatic Theory of
Fallacy. Tuscaloosa, AL: The University of Alabama Press.
2007. Media Argumentation:
Dialectic, Persuasion, and
Rhetoric. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Walton, Douglas N., and Erik C. W. Krabbe. 1995. Commitment
in Dialogue: Basic Concepts of Interpersonal Reasoning. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Wikipedia. 2014. Aardgaswinning in Nederland [Natural Gas Extraction
in the Netherlands]. Accessed 19 November 2014. 〈[URL]〉
