ABSTRACT
Community conferencing can be adapted and modified for use in education, social work, criminal and civil law, human resource management, and a host of other areas. The broader focus seems consistent with "communitarianism," which is political philosophy's counterpart to the ecological model in social theory. Communitarian theory informs a social movement that is concerned to reclaim or rebuild communities. Conferencing is consistent with a shift in the guiding metaphors of child welfare philosophy. The conferencing process is frequently compared with decision-making strategies used by indigenous peoples. It seems that one reason why conferencing is proving acceptable to indigenous communities is that there is something universal about the dynamics of the process. Conferencing is being readily accepted by other minority groups for the same reason, particularly in the context of the multicultural settler societies of Oceania and North America. These societies have a pressing need for processes that can accommodate a diversity of ethnic and cultural values.
