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Mexican standoff
 
 
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Mexican standoff is a strategic deadlock
Deadlock

A deadlock is a situation wherein two or more competing actions are waiting for the other to finish, and thus neither ever does. It is often seen in a paradox like 'the chicken or the egg'....
 or impasse
Impasse

A bargaining impasse occurs when the two sides negotiating an agreement are unable to reach an agreement and become deadlocked....
, in which no party can act in a way that ensures victory.

phrase came into usage during the late 19th century. Originally a derogatory reference to perceived Mexican political indecision, it has come to refer to any impasse, regardless of the participants or the presence of arms.

a class="link1" onMouseover='showByLink("m3397959",this)' onMouseout='hide("m3397959")'href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Popular_culture">popular culture
Popular culture

Popular culture is the totality of Distinction memes, ideas, Perspective s and Attitude s that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture....
, the Mexican standoff is often portrayed as three (or more) opponents with weapons aimed at each other, such that each opponent feels equally threatened and does not believe he can strike first without endangering his own life; not only does any initial shot decisively destroy the unstable equilibrium of multiple deterrence
Deterrence theory

Deterrence theory is a military strategy developed during the Cold War. It is especially relevant with regard to the use of nuclear weapons, and figures prominently in current United States foreign policy regarding the development of nuclear technology in North Korea and Iran....
, shooting any one person takes one's aim away from the other opponent.






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Mexican standoff is a strategic deadlock
Deadlock

A deadlock is a situation wherein two or more competing actions are waiting for the other to finish, and thus neither ever does. It is often seen in a paradox like 'the chicken or the egg'....
 or impasse
Impasse

A bargaining impasse occurs when the two sides negotiating an agreement are unable to reach an agreement and become deadlocked....
, in which no party can act in a way that ensures victory.

Origins

The phrase came into usage during the late 19th century. Originally a derogatory reference to perceived Mexican political indecision, it has come to refer to any impasse, regardless of the participants or the presence of arms.

In popular culture

In popular culture
Popular culture

Popular culture is the totality of Distinction memes, ideas, Perspective s and Attitude s that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture....
, the Mexican standoff is often portrayed as three (or more) opponents with weapons aimed at each other, such that each opponent feels equally threatened and does not believe he can strike first without endangering his own life; not only does any initial shot decisively destroy the unstable equilibrium of multiple deterrence
Deterrence theory

Deterrence theory is a military strategy developed during the Cold War. It is especially relevant with regard to the use of nuclear weapons, and figures prominently in current United States foreign policy regarding the development of nuclear technology in North Korea and Iran....
, shooting any one person takes one's aim away from the other opponent. The Mexican standoff is now largely considered a movie cliché
Cliché

A clich? or cliche is a saying, expression or idea which has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning, especially when at some earlier time it was considered distinctively meaningful or novel, rendering it a stereotype....
 due to its frequent use in spaghetti western
Spaghetti Western

Spaghetti Western, also known in some countries in mainland Europe as the Italo-Western, is a nickname for a broad Genre of Western film that emerged in the mid-1960s, so named because most were produced and directed by Cinema of Italy, usually in coproduction with a Cinema of Spain....
s and action film
Action film

Action movies are a film genre where action sequences, such as explosions, Choreographed fight in cinema, shootouts, stunts, car chases or explosions either take precedence over or, in finer examples of the genre, are used as a form of exposition and character development....
s.

See also

  • Battle of attrition
  • Chicken (game)
    Chicken (game)

    The game of Chicken, also known as the Hawk-Dove or Snowdrift game, is an influential model of conflict for two players in game theory....
  • Catch 22
  • Duel
    Duel

    As practiced from the 11th to 20th centuries in Western societies, a duel is an engagement in combat between two individuals, with matched weapons in accordance with their combat doctrines....
  • Heroic failure
    Heroic failure

    Heroic failure describes a person or group failing to accomplish their goal, but somehow gaining the moral upper hand or becoming ennobled in the attempt....
  • Mutual assured destruction
    Mutual assured destruction

    Mutually assured destruction is a doctrine of military strategy in which a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by two opposing sides would effectively result in the destruction of both the attacker and the defender....
     (MAD)
  • Nash equilibrium
    Nash equilibrium

    In game theory, Nash equilibrium is a solution concept of a game involving two or more players, in which each player is assumed to know the equilibrium strategies of the other players, and no player has anything to gain by changing only his or her own strategy unilaterally....
  • No-win situation
    No-win situation

    A no-win situation, also called a "lose-lose" situation, is one where a person has choices, but no choice leads to success. If an executioner offers the condemned the choice of dying by being hanged, shot, or poisoned, since all choices lead to death, the condemned is in a no-win situation....
  • Polish parliament
    Polish parliament

    Polish parliament is an expression referring to the historical Sejm walny. It implies chaos and general disorder, and that no real decision can be reached during sessions....
  • Prisoner's Dilemma
    Prisoner's dilemma

    The Prisoner's Dilemma constitutes a problem in game theory. It was originally framed by Merrill Flood and Melvin Dresher working at RAND in 1950....
  • Pyrrhic victory
    Pyrrhic victory

    A Pyrrhic victory is a victory with devastating cost to the victor....
  • Stalemate
    Stalemate

    Stalemate is a situation in chess where the player whose turn it is to move is not in check but has no legal moves. One of the rules of chess is that stalemate ends the game, with the result a draw ....
  • Truel
    Truel

    A truel is a neologism for a duel between three opponents, in which players can fire at one another in an attempt to eliminate them while surviving themselves....
  • Win-win situation