A partnership is an arrangement in which parties agree to cooperate to advance their mutual

interests.
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Since humans are social beings, partnerships between individuals, businesses, interest-
based organizations, schools, governments, and varied combinations thereof, have always been and
remain commonplace. In the most frequently associated instance of the term, a partnership is
formed between two or more businesses in which partners (owners) co-labor to achieve and share
profits and losses (see business partners). Partnerships exist within, and across, sectors. Non-
profit, religious, and political organizations may partner together to increase the likelihood of each
achieving their mission and to amplify their reach. In what is usually called an alliance, governments
may partner to achieve their national interests, sometimes against allied governments holding
contrary interests, as occurred during World War II and the Cold War. In education, accrediting
agenciesincreasingly evaluate schools by the level and quality of their partnerships with other
schools and a variety of other entities across societal sectors. Some partnerships occur atpersonal
levels, such as when two or more individuals agree to domicile together, while other partnerships are
not only personal, but private, known only to the involved parties.
Partnerships present the involved parties with special challenges that must be navigated unto
agreement. Overarching goals, levels of give-and-take, areas of responsibility, lines of authority
and succession, how success is evaluated and distributed, and often a variety of other factors must
all be negotiated. Once agreement is reached, the partnership is typically enforceable by civil law,
especially if well documented. Partners who wish to make their agreement affirmatively explicit and
enforceable typically draw up Articles of Partnership. It is common for information about formally
partnered entities to be made public, such as through a press release, a newspaper ad, or public
records laws.
While partnerships stand to amplify mutual interests and success, some are considered ethically
problematic. When a politician, for example, partners with a corporation to advance the latter's
interest in exchange for some benefit, a conflict of interest results; consequentially, the public
good may suffer. While technically legal in some jurisdictions, such practice is broadly viewed
negatively or as corruption.
Governmentally recognized partnerships may enjoy special benefits in tax policies. Among
developed countries, for example, business partnerships are often favored overcorporations in
taxation policy, since dividend taxes only occur on profits before they are distributed to the partners.
However, depending on the partnership structure and thejurisdiction in which it operates, owners of
a partnership may be exposed to greater personal liability than they would as shareholders of a
corporation. In such countries, partnerships are often regulated via anti-trust laws, so as to
inhibit monopolistic practices and foster free market competition. Enforcement of the laws, however,
varies considerably. Domestic partnerships recognized by governments typically enjoy tax benefits,
as well.