I would like to present a framework that may help to answer the question, "What is going on out there?" It may also help to gather together some of these disparate stories, like the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) negotiated rulemaking, Clean Sites's coalescing efforts at Superfund¹ sites, efforts to mediate land use and facility siting disputes, and statewide policy dialogues.

Imagine you were drawing a chart. Across the top put three columns: legislative, administrative and judicial. Down the side put three rows: local, state and national. What is going on, in my view, is an effort to fill in those nine boxes with experimental test results. Through various demonstrations and pilot projects we are attempting to determine whether it is possible to supplement (not replace) conventional dispute resolution procedures with more consensual approaches to dealing with differences. These experiments focus on public disputes over the allocation of fixed resources, the setting of standards, and the setting of policy priorities.