Where is the Give in Winner-Take-All?
This article was inspired by an enlightening conversation about the interface between politics and mediation held on January 23, 2003 at Berkeley Dispute Resolutions Service (BDRS). Participants included Linda Maio, a Berkeley city councilperson and her aid Brad Smith (who is also a mediator with BDRS), other city staff and mediators as well as other interested parties. This meeting was a novel one since mediators and politicians seem to be involved in two totally different fields. Much energy in the alternative dispute resolution field is focused on how to move parties away from polarization and political campaigns tend to emphasize the differences between two parties or two stances. Mediators try to find the common ground between two points of view; and politicians, especially around campaign time, exploit the differences and even make them appear larger than they are. But between campaigns politicians are in the business of governing and of looking for ways to make our communities b
