Civic Fusion: Mediating Polarized Public Disputes

Civic fusion occurs when people bond to achieve a common public goal, even as they sustain deep value differences. This book offers proven strategies for moving polarized parties to consensus solutions based on the author's 25 years of mediation and negotiation experience, including working with pro-life and pro-choice leaders after fatal shootings at women's health clinics, crane industry and union representatives to develop federal worker safety regulations, and citizens of a failed city that reclaimed their democracy by writing a consensus charter. Using these and other real-world examples, Civic Fusion guides readers through a provocative discussion about what mediators aspire to do, what they actually do, and what needs to be done to bring disparate groups of people together to reach agreements on complicated public policy questions. It provides innovative strategies for productive multi-party, multi-issue negotiations.