The Consensus Building Handbook

Sarah McKearnan is a nationally recognized multiparty mediator/facilitator. She served as a Consensus Building Institute Senior Associate for five years, and is now an International Programme on the Management of Sustainability faculty member. She is also a trainer of negotiation simulations, consulting reports, and articles on the history and practice of dispute resolution in academic journals and magazines.

Introduction PART ONE: A SHORT GUIDE TO CONSENSUS BUILDING An Alternative to Robert's Rules of Order for Groups, Organizations and Ad Hoc Assemblies that Want to Operate by Consensus - Lawrence Susskind PART TWO: HOW TO BULID CONSENSUS Choosing Appropriate Consensus Building Techniques and Strategies - Susan Carpenter Conducting a Conflict Assessment - Lawrence Susskind and Jennifer Thomas-Larmer Designing a Consensus Building Process using a Graphic Road Map - David A Straus Convening - Chris Carlson The Role of Facilitators, Mediators, and Other Consensus Building Practitioners - Michael Elliot Representation of Stakeholding Interests - David Laws Managing Meetings to Build Consensus - David A Straus Producing Consensus - Sarah McKearnan and David Fairman Joint Fact-Finding and the Use of Technical Experts - John R Ehrmann and Barbara L Stinson Making the Best Use of Technology - Connie P Ozawa Dealing with the Press - James E Kunde Dealing with Deep Value Differences - John Forester Legal Issues in Consensus Building - Dwight Golann and Eric E Van Loon Implementing Consenus-Based Agreements - William R Potapchuk and Jarle Crocker Visioning - Carl M Moore, Gianni Longo and Patsy Palmer Collaborative Problem Solving within Organizations - Christopher W Moore and Peter Woodrow Evaluating Consensus Building - Judith E Innes PART THREE: CASES AND COMMENTARIES Introduction to the Cases and Commentaries - Michele Ferenz Activating a Policy Network - Peter Driessen The Case of Mainport Schipol The Northern Oxford County Coalition - Sarah McKearnan and Patrick Field Four Maine Towns Tackle a Public Health Mystery The Chelsea Charter Consensus Process - Susan L Podziba Affordable Housing Mediation - Lawrence Susskind and Susan L Podziba Building Consensus for Regional Agreements in the Hartford Area San Francisco Estuary Project - Judith E Innes and Sarah Connick Resolving Science-Intensive Public Policy Disputes - Scott McCreary Reflections on the New York Bight Initiative Negotiating Superfund Cleanup at the Massachusetts Military Reservation - Edward Scher RuleNet - Michele Ferenz and Colin Rule An Experiment in On-Line Consensus Building Regulatory Negotiations - Jan Jung-Min Sunoo and Juliette A Falkner The Native American Experience Cross-Cultural Community-Based Planning - Norman Dale Negotiating the Future of the Haida Gwaii (British Columbia) The Chattanooga Process - John Parr A City's Vision is Realized From City Hall to the Streets - Catherine Connolly A Community Plan Meets the Real World The Catron County Citizens' Group - Melinda Smith A Case Study in Community Collaboration Facilitating Statewide HIV/AIDS Policies and Priorities in Colorado - Michael A Hughes with John Forester and Irene Weiser Finding Common Ground on Abortion - Michelle LeBaron and Nike Carstarphen Organizational Trauma Recovery - David Brubaker The "God's Fellowship Community Church" Reconciliation Process Building Consensus for Change within a Major Corporation - Judy Mares-Dixon, Julie A McKay and Scott Peppett The Case of Levi Strauss & Co