Designing a dispute resolution system for water policy and management

Conclusions The Montana state water planning process represents one example of how a government agency with decision-making responsibilities can design and facilitate a dispute resolution system. Dispute resolution systems can increase the participation of all affected interests in developing and implementing public policy. This, in turn, should increase their ownership in the final decision and in seeing that it is implemented. A dispute resolution system may not decrease the volume of conflicts, per se, but it should reduce the high costs of conflict and realize the benefits of conflict more efficiently.The use of dispute resolution systems to address complex, multi-party public policy issues also provides other benefits, including the consideration of diverse perspectives and interests; the cooperative and systematic analysis of technical and scientific information; the formation of more pragmatic, equitable, and mutually acceptable goals and alternatives; and the improvement of relationships among diverse, often competing interests, government agencies, and policymakers. Matthew McKinney is a policy analyst and facilitator with the State of Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, 1520 East Sixth Avenue, Helena, Mont. 59620.An earlier version of this article was presented at a conference titled Innovation in Western Water Law and Management, held at the Natural Resources Law Center, University of Colorado School of Law, 5–7 June, 1991.     

Alternative dispute resolution: An international approach

Book reviews in this article:
Hein Kdtz and Reynald Ottenhof , eds., Les Conciliateurs, La Conciliation .
Jerold Auerbach , Justice Without Law .
Michard L. Abel , ed., The Politics of Informal Justice, Volume 2: Comparative Studies .     

Employment dispute resolution systems: Experience grows but some questions persist

Brown & Root, a large private construction firm, has designed and implemented a dispute resolution system (DRS) that emphasizes early, informal handling of disputes. This article traces the development, implementation, and accomplishments of the system thus far: The author also describes the most controversial aspect of the system — a pre-dispute agreement to mandatory arbitration as a condition of employment. John W. Zinsser is cofounder and managing partner of Pacifica Human Communications, a private intercultural and conflict communications consulting firm based at 269 Klotter Ave., Cincinnati, Ohio 45219.     

Plaintiffs by proxy: A firm-level approach to WTO dispute resolution

Lobbying by multinational business firms drives the agenda of international trade politics. We match Fortune Global 500 firms to WTO disputes in which they have a stake and to their political activities using public disclosure data. The quantitative evidence reveals traces of a principal-agent relationship between major MNCs and the US Trade Representative (USTR). Firms lobby and make political contributions to induce the USTR to lodge a WTO dispute, and once a dispute begins, firms increase their political activity in order to keep USTR on track. Lobbying is overwhelmingly patriotic—the side opposing the US position is barely represented—and we see little evidence of MNCs lobbying against domestic protectionism. When the United States is targeted in a dispute, lobbying by defendant-side firms substantially delays settlement, as the affected firms pressure the government to reject concessions. Lobbying on the complainant side does not delay dispute resolution, as complainant-side firms have mixed incentives, to resolve disputes quickly as well as to hold out for better terms.     

New models of negotiation,dispute resolution,and joint problem solving

The revolutionary changes sweeping the workplace, union-management relationships, and the world economy have contributed to a sharply redefined role for the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS), the primary provider of mediation services to labor and management in the United States. In this article's three main sections, the authors trace the history and provide background information about FMCS; consider the changing role of mediation, driven by societal forces of change from the late 1970s to the present; and speculate on the agency's future and the expected expansion in the use of mediation. John Calhoun Wells has served as Director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service since November, 1993, when he was appointed to that position by President Bill Clinton.Wilma B. Liebman is Deputy Director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.     

'Groping toward coexistence': US China policy during the Johnson years

Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, vol. XXX, China (United States Government Printing Office: Washington, 1998).     

Foreign policy begins at home: the local origin of support for US democracy promotion

ABSTRACT

Citizens hold opinions about what kinds of foreign policy their government should pursue. Because foreign policy often has geographically specific domestic consequences, we expect opinions to vary with the locality of its impact. In this article, we examine whether individual support for US foreign policy to promote democracy abroad depends on exactly where the policy’s domestic impact will occur. We expect individuals to favor policies that bestow local benefits while opposing those that impose local costs. Accordingly, we argue that support for proposed democracy aid grants will be higher when such aid benefits local firms and organizations. Conversely, we expect that opposition to proposed economic sanctions in the form of development aid cuts will be higher when the associated domestic costs stemming from lost jobs fall locally. Using the results from an original survey experiment, we find evidence that a positive local impact of aid increases support for and reduces opposition to democracy promotion, while a negative local impact of sanctions reduces indifference and increases opposition to punitive policy in the case of democratic backsliding.     

The United States of Amnesia: US foreign policy and the recurrence of innocence

This article interrogates the ways in which the United States ‘forgets’ the consequences and effects of its foreign policy in the making of its identity. In particular, the article argues that such forgetting enables the United States government to frame its interventions in world affairs as innocent and morally driven. Literature on collective memory and the forgetting that enables the production of such memory informs one element of the argument. Three contemporary films from the amnesia genre are analysed to provide insights into the kind of American identity forged in the acts of remembering and forgetting, illustrating the argument that remembering and forgetting are complex, voluntary and at times mendacious processes. The article concludes with the observation that the processes of forgetting past action when framing the context of new interventions make the United States a dangerous force in global affairs.     

One administration, two voices: US China policy during Bush's first term

The most intriguing thing about the China policy of the BushAdministration during its first term is not that it did notfollow up with its campaign promises. Rather it is the continuedcontradiction and inconsistency in conceptualization and implementation.Throughout the past 4 years, one heard two different voicesfrom the Administration: one advocates a candid, constructiveand cooperative relationship with China; the other insists onthe need to restrain and contain China. Since 9/11, againstthe backdrop of the war against terror, the first voice prevailedover the latter. However, while the latter voice was largelysubdued, it did reassert itself at times and on certain issues,and threatens to come back when circumstances change. Four yearsafter the Bush Administration came into office, the questionwhether China is a competitor or a partner still remained unanswered.This paper will first review the evolution of Bush Administration'sChina policy during its first term. Then it will try to analyzethe major factors shaping the development. Finally, it willspeculate on the prospect for development of the relationshipin Bush's second term.     

US foreign policy,public memory,and autism: representing September 11 and May 4

In this article, we examine the social production of autism in US foreign policy discourse. Autism, we argue, is evident in the active forgetting of US foreign policy and its consequences, both in the US and abroad. It is this forgetting, promoted by the US state, that enabled many Americans to respond to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon with the question ‘Why do they hate us?’ The explanation for the social production of an autistic attitude in US foreign policy, we argue, lies in the relations between institutional power and competing narratives and articulations of US foreign policy and domestic politics. The argument is illustrated through analysis of the politics of public memory at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, where, on May 4, 1970, 13 students were shot, four fatally, while protesting the US invasion of Cambodia.     

Before salt: Ten years of US arms control policy, 1958-68

Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS), 1958-60, Vol. Ill, National Security Policy; Arms Control and Disarmament (US Government Printing Office, Washington, 1996); FRUS, 1961-3 VII, Arms Control and Disarmament (1995); FRUS, 1961-3, VIII, National Security Policy (1996); FRUS, 1964-8, XI, Arms Control and Disarmament (1997).     

Kashmir and Tibet: comparing conflicts,states, and solutions

Five decades of conflicts in Kashmir and Tibet continue into the twenty-first century without clear signs of resolution. This article focuses on issues of collective rights, national identity, and state sovereignty in these two conflicts to ask what political recourses exist for Tibetans or citizens of Jammu and Kashmir in today's changing world. As citizens of differently organized states and subjects to dissimilar conflicts, what methods and types of conflict resolution might Tibetans and Kashmiris have shared access to? Both of these post-WWII conflicts have been framed and defined by the two core states involved, India and China. Analytically, therefore, this article draws on anthropological and political constructivist work on the state to suggest possible non-violent, community-oriented solutions to these conflicts.