This dissertation examines the character and influence of the emerging field of public conflict resolution. The focus of the research is this question: What are the implications to American society of the evolving practice of public conflict resolution, particularly in relation to an ideology of "management," or the preservation of existing social relations, and an ideal of "transformation" of these relations? The research was based upon interviews of practitioners, observation of and participation in conflict resolution forums, and review of theoretical and organizational literature, including promotional brochures and case descriptions.
The public conflict resolution practice has made significant inroads in the policymaking arena during the past two decades, with procedures such as negotiated rulemaking, policy dialogues, and the Negotiated Investment Strategy joining case-specific procedures such as mediation. Yet inadequate attention has been paid to the implications of this practice. An emerging ideology of management threatens to
dominate the field. This ideology is constituted by a set of perceived problems known as the "crisis of governance"; a worldview embracing classical liberalism; and a practice, consistent with these problems and worldview, which conceives of disputes as clashes of private interests and dispute resolution as the satisfaction of those interests.
A transformative practice of public conflict resolution is counterposed against this ideology of management. This approach is aligned with a larger movement within society to create and sustain a life-affirming public domain, a movement invigorated by recent thinking about democratic theory and practice. The transformative practice responds to three overarching problems of the contemporary public domain—
alienation from the means of governance, fragmentation of community and culture, and inability to solve public problems— by assuming three projects designed to address those problems: engagement of citizenry in the means of governance; sustenance of a public domain which values affiliation and community; and building a capacity for resolving conflicts and solving problems.
The dissertation concludes with a series of recommendations about developing a transformative field of public conflict resolution.