I don't know that it's all pride. I don't have much of a problem admitting mistakes amongst friends and most co-workers, but I've definitely worked with a few people you could never admit failure to. They were either the type of people who felt everything needed to have someone to blame and who would be punished for the failure, or people who could use any mistake as ammunition in office politics.
The government here may have refused to back down out of fear of setting a precedent that would be used in other cases where they were actually in the right
The government here may have refused to back down out of fear of setting a precedent that would be used in other cases where they were actually in the right