Understanding Public Disputes: The Spiral of Unmanaged Conflict (C & K Chapter 5)

This chapter focuses on the different dynamics and elements of public disputes. Public disputes can be very different from labor-management disputes/family conflicts because of the more broad range of people involved and affected. Public disputes tend to have more complicated relationships between interests and in fact can have more interests associated with the conflict than other types of disputes. It is hard to pinpoint all of the parties at the start, and the party members can vary widely on their expertise and power. Power can come in different forms; some examples are: financial power, reputation power, network power, skills/knowledge power, and legal authority. Since there are so many parties at varying levels there are many different ways to make decisions and the procedures for public disputes are not standardized.

If conflict goes unmanaged, it can undergo a downward spiral. After a problem emerges, people/citizens get involved and if nothing is done quickly and openly people can tend to get stuck in their issues and stop communicating amongst the parties. The conflict can then even go outside the direct community via people looking for outside support of their interests. Parties can tend to lose their objectivity and see the conflict as more polarized than it may be. This brings about a sense of crisis. The outcomes of public disputes can vary widely. Different options are include litigation, government decisions, and violence. It seems that it is easier to manage a conflict at the beginning of its cycle rather than waiting for the downward spiral.

One thing in this chapter that confused me is why they state (pg. 6-7) that the parties tend to not have a continuing relationship; wouldn't a community need to have a continuing relationship?