Abstract

The use of negotiation processes to address complex public policy issues has gained popularity in recent decades, as advocates of these processes have criticized the effectiveness of traditional political forums as arenas in which decisions can be made and disputes can be resolved in a definitive way. A negotiation process involves face-to-face interactions among a balanced group of individuals representing all significant perspectives on the issues of a dispute. This dissertation is an evaluation of the use of negotiations in the rulemaking context at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency . The goal is to assess the benefits and the limitations of negotiation as a policy process, and to make explicit the values which are expected from a negotiation process as well as the conditions which must be met in order for those values to be realized. Three distinct values are expected of negotiation processes. First, negotiation is promoted as an efficient process which can save time and money in public decision making by avoiding protracted and expensive legal actions. Second, it is expected that a negotiation process which provides a mechanism for reaching accommodation among all competing perspectives can yield good policy outcomes. Finally, face-to-face interactions among parties with competing interests should provide opportunities for building better relationships among individuals and also for building community. Many values have in fact been realized in negotiations at EPA over the past decade. However, the usefulness of negotiation as a policy tool is limited by the fact that negotiation is only appropriate in a few select cases in which the issues are mature and the parties affected by the issues are prepared for negotiation. Even when the negotiation process works best, it still mirrors a problem of many other political processes: it is only accessible to relatively well-organized and powerful parties. A key condition for the success of the negotiation process is that the parties have a relative balance of power entering negotiations, which makes possible mutuality in decision making and the benefits of building community through face-to-face negotiations