ABSTRACT

This chapter presents some of the decisions, and non-decisions, made by Harbourtown Industry Committee (HIC), which was not subject to the same level of control as Scrubfield Marine Reserve Committee (SMRC) and whose project manager and some-time chair, Larry, consistently allowed almost any input without questioning its relevance, its accuracy or its mode of expression. To some extent, Larry freed himself to do this by maintaining a personal view of HIC as a consultative, rather than a participatory forum. The analysis suggests that successful resolution of agenda items relied on the emergence of more idiosyncratic approaches which allowed expression of different rationalities. The chapter summarize the adaptive approaches noted in the two case studies and the identification of some discursive symptoms of constructive dialogue. However, it also notes that such a summary is temporal and contingent; that is, what worked for these cases was so context-sensitive that it does not translate straightforwardly into any universal principles.