Book Reviews

This is an important book for anyone who needs to understand how changes can be orchestrated in our increasingly complex society and how major economic disagreements can best be resolved. Too many books and papers on dispute resolution are written by academics and others who have little practical experience with the process. Perhaps that is why negotiation is often described in terms of two people bargaining across a table, sometimes with the help of a single, neutral mediator. In real life, each "party" consists of numerous contesting individuals expressing conflicting demands, some resisting any tendency to compromise, others willing to settle at any price.

Important disputes do not occur in a vacuum; the voices of legal advisors, interested outsiders, influential observers, and representatives of various public or private bodies are heard off-stage. The more important the dispute, the more cacaphonous are those external voices.