Conflict, Difference and Dialogue

Abstract

Imagine the following situations. The elected management committee of a community association in a multi-racial urban area meets to develop a strategy for the use of its new community centre. A group of tenants on a housing estate meet to see if they can revive the tenants association which collapsed two years ago. A multi-disciplinary team of professional workers within the public sector meet with a variety of representatives of a local area to review strategy for promoting economic regeneration. A group of managers meet with a number of black and female staff to discuss perceived failures in the organisation’s equal-opportunities policy. The elected political leaders of a declining maritime city embark upon a massive programme of consultation with neighbourhood and other communities to develop a programme for root and branch reform of the city’s administration. Using parliament and the media a coalition government initiates a ‘great debate’ on the future of abortion and other aspects of women’s rights in a strongly Catholic society.