Dealing with Differences: The Drama of Mediating Public Disputes

Politics and public policy are naturally contentious. But while some disputes are easily settled, many are not, and figuring out ways to reach solutions that are agreeable to all is a perennial issue for activists, politicians, planners, and policymakers. In Dealing with Differences, eminent planning scholar John Forester focuses on "hard cases"-conflicts that appear on the surface to be insoluble. Looking at policy disputes over the environment, ethnic conflict, and HIV, he shows how innovative mediators were able to bridge seemingly intractable differences. Dealing with Differences serves as an authoritative and fundamentally pragmatic pathway for anyone who has to engage in the inherently contentious worlds of planning and policymaking.