Getting the safe minimum standard to work in the real world: a case study in moral pragmatism

There is growing endorsement of local stake-holder conventions to resolve u nusual environmental disputes. The conventions are separate decision-making bodies designed to by-pass conventional institutions. The hazards of a sta ke-holder convention which is overly-detached from conventional decision-ma king leads to a discourse that never successfully confronts the value contr oversies which the stake-holder convention is charged to resolve. A case st udy uncovers obvious and robust strategic manipulations of stake-holder con ventions that intrude on value dialogue. An appeal to the safe minimum stan dard rules of Ciriacy-Wantrup, updated to engage this question, successfull y corrects some of the more egregious stumbling blocks to good faith dialog ue in local discourse. The proposed constraints on the stake-holder convent ion can be quite directive, authoritative and bureaucratic, yet the constra ints are necessary to preserve good faith conduct within the dialogue. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.